First published 2024
Anne Applebaum dismantles the outdated image of autocracy as a single bad actor ruling from above. Today's dictatorships function through interconnected webs of corrupt financial systems, intelligence agencies, and propaganda machines that span multiple countries. These networks share resources and tactics across borders. State-controlled enterprises in one dictatorship conduct business with similar companies in another. Police forces exchange training and equipment internationally. Troll farms spread disinformation for multiple regimes simultaneously. Unlike traditional military alliances, these relationships operate on pure transaction rather than shared ideology. Autocrats from different cultures and regions collaborate easily because they agree on one fundamental goal: weakening democratic institutions and values worldwide. Applebaum traces how these networks formed, why they persist, and how democratic nations inadvertently strengthened them. The book reveals the mechanics of this global autocratic cooperation and offers strategies for democratic societies to counter these coordinated threats.
Genres: international-relations, political-science, politics, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: corruption, institutional-critique
224 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday