Description
**A Sunday Times Bestseller**
The celebrated historian and journalist uncovers the networks trying to destroy the democratic world
All of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an autocratic state looks like, with a bad man at the top. But in the 21st century, that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. The propagandists share resources-the troll farms that promote one dictator's propaganda can also be used to promote the propaganda of another-and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.
Unlike military or political alliances from other times and places, this group doesn't operate like a bloc, but rather like an agglomeration of companies: Autocracy, Inc. Their relations are not based on values, but are rather transactional, which is why they operate so easily across ideological, geographical, and cultural lines. In truth, they are in full agreement about only one thing: Their dislike of us, the inhabitants of the democratic world, and their desire to see both our political systems and our values undermine.
That shared understanding of the world-where it comes from, why it lasts, how it works, how the democratic world has unwittingly helped to consolidate it, and how we can help bring it down-is the subject of this book.
About the Author
Anne Applebaum is the author of Gulag: A History, which won the Pulitzer Prize, of Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956, which won the Cundill Prize, of Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine which won the Lionel Gelber and Duff Cooper prizes, and of the best-selling Twilight of Democracy. She is a columnist for The Atlantic and a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University. She divides her time between Britain, Poland and the USA
Reviews
Anne Applebaum is one of the wisest, best informed and most trenchant commentators on global politics. This book, which should be compulsory reading for every G7 head of government and foreign minister, sets out in disturbing detail the assault overt and covert by autocrats everywhere on liberal democracies and open societies. She demonstrates how we should not only fight for liberal values against Russia, China and all their cronies, but also live up to them ourselves -- Chris Patten, Former British Governor of Hong Kong
Anne Applebaum's far-sighted book reveals an international network of autocrats who seek to subvert democracy in what has become a decentralized global struggle, with shifting alliances and no monolithic forces of good and evil. But it is also a practical manual packed with specific proposals to combat autocracy, in all its nefarious guises. Now it's up to us-the proponents of democracy - to step up and put these ideas into action. -- Gary Kasparov, Chess Grandmaster and author of Winter Is Coming
... offers an eloquent indictment of Western collusion in the creation of these autocracies... a clear-sighted and unflinching look at the ideas, resentments, assumptions and practices of the regimes that are challenging liberal democracy. -- Michael Ignatieff * Literary Review *
Autocracy, Inc. is clear-sighted and fearless ... a masterclass in the marriage of dodgy government to international criminality ... (both) deeply disturbing; it couldn't be anything else (and) a lively pleasure to read. -- John Simpson * Guardian *
Ms Applebaum worries that "autocracy, inc" is poisoning minds and corrupting decision-makers in the democratic West ... [and] offers useful tips for resisting. * Economist *
Autocracy, Inc. is a valuable book for many reasons, but the focus on illicit wealth creation and on those in democracies who enable it is especially timely. So is Applebaum's recommendation that we wage war on autocratic behaviors wherever they occur. -- Ruth Ben-Ghiat * Washington Post *
Rigorously researched, bracing and realistic... But she is by no means fatalistic, urging free nations to confront the complicity of financial, legal and communications professionals in enabling Autocracy, Inc. -- Matthew D'Ancona * New European *
Applebaum deserves credit for drawing attention to the alarming new alliances of dictatorships seeking to shackle freedom, undemrine human rights, and usurp our values - along with the complacency of democracies that have done so little to stop the flood of fake news ... and flows of dirty money. -- Ian Birrell * Spectator *
In under 200 pages of breathless, urgent prose ... Applebaum highlight(s) the unlikely partnerships among the world's autocratic regimes [and] does an excellent job laying out the corrupting effects these autocracies have on western democracies -- Yuan Yi Zhu * The Times *
Excellent ... clear ... a call to arms to defend our societies -- Tim Judah * Financial Times *
A fearsomely active journalist ... Autocracy, Inc. is an-up-to-the moment examination of how modern-day autocracies, not just that of Russia's President Putin, but also including China, North Korea, and Iran, act as a kind of informal bloc to challenge what they see as the West's 'hegemony'. -- Dominic Lawson * Daily Mail *
The strength of Autocracy, Inc. lies in its description of how autocrats bend and distort opinion, and find allies across national boundaries -- Lloyd Green * Guardian *
Autocracy, Inc, charts the rise and rise of tyrannical leaders amid the end of history - and looks at
Western complicity in their success ... Applebaum is clear in exposing the thin threads separating the "free" and "tyrannical" worlds.
A warning as to just how close we are to a subtler, more pervasive form of autocratic power, more fluid, easier to globalize... an important read * LitHub *
Book Information
ISBN 9780241627891
Author Anne Applebaum
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Allen Lane
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 346g
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 143mm * 24mm
