Join Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum and Harvard professor Steven Levitsky as they dissect the mechanics of modern autocracy. They explore how figures like Trump manipulate government to curb dissent, drawing parallels with regimes in Hungary and India. The conversation delves into competitive authoritarianism, the erosion of democratic norms, and the influence of factionalism. Applebaum and Levitsky discuss the vital lessons from history that can help recognize and combat rising authoritarian trends in today's political climate.
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Defining Autocracy
Autocracy is a system of government where a person or group rules without checks and balances.
It aims to control all aspects of society, including media, opposition, and courts.
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New Authoritarianism
Modern autocracies often maintain a democratic facade with elections and constitutions.
However, these systems are often manipulated to favor the ruling power, making them "competitive authoritarian" regimes.
insights INSIGHT
Trump's Conflicting Approaches
The Trump administration's approach to governance seems confused, with conflicting tendencies.
It both weaponizes and guts institutions, like the Department of Education, showing a lack of clear strategy.
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In 'Autocracy, Inc.', Anne Applebaum provides a detailed analysis of how modern autocracies operate, highlighting their sophisticated networks of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists. These autocratic regimes, spanning countries like China, Russia, and Iran, collaborate across borders to maintain power and undermine democracy. Applebaum argues that international condemnation and economic sanctions are ineffective against these autocrats and calls for democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to combat this new threat. The book serves as both a historical investigation and a practical guide for defending democratic values against the rising tide of autocracy.
Since taking office, President Trump has taken aim at the constitutional order. By conducting mass firings of civil servants, investigating and prosecuting rivals and critics and pardoning insurrectionists, Trump has plunged the country into what political scientist Steven Levitsky argues is an authoritarianism that, unlike a full dictatorship, allows for opposition but deploys “the machinery of government to punish, harass, co-opt, or sideline their opponents—disadvantaging them in every contest, and, in so doing, entrenching themselves in power.” And this playbook has been used in countries like Hungary, El Salvador, India, Turkey and others. We talk to Levitsky and historian Anne Applebaum about the lessons other countries can teach us about recognizing authoritarianism at home.
Guests:
Anne Applebaum, author, "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World"; staff writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute.
Steven Levitsky, professor of government, Harvard; co-author of "Why Democracies Die" and "Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point."
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