Best of 2024 | Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer-prize winning historian on AUTOCRACY, INC.: THE DICTATORS WHO WANT TO RUN THE WORLD

(Getting to speak with Anne Applebaum was such an honor. She's not only one of the world's most prominent historians and writers, Anne's focus on the fragility of democracy and emerging autocracies couldn't be more timely.)

In the 20th Century, we had Cold War adversaries. In the early 2000s, George W. Bush talked about the Axis of Evil. But are those frameworks the most accurate way to understand the forces attempting to undermine not just democratic nations but democratic ideas? And to what degree have these antagonists - those that are fundamentally opposed to our core principles such as the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and basic human rights - pervaded U.S. politics?

In this episode we welcome Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer-prize winning historian, staff writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. After discussing her motivations, experiences, and insights into the autocratic regimes and their impacts on global democracy, we dive into Anne’s new book Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World. We explore how autocracies collaborate, ways the rest of the world is complicit in autocratic behaviors, and strategies to combat these influences. The conversation also touches on Anne's personal history and initial fascination with the history, literature, culture and politics of the “Borderlands,” a region that includes Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and beyond.

01:53 Anne's Early Career and Inspirations

16:29 The Concept of Autocracy, Inc.

29:44 Global Complicity in Autocracy

34:39 Hamas and Global Destabilization

37:05 Trump's Influence and Dictator Admiration

39:17 Russian Propaganda and Dark Money in US Politics

42:37 Autocracy, Inc. and Democratic Values

52:43 Engaging in Local Politics and Understanding the Big Picture

anneapplebaum.substack.com

www.anneapplebaum.com/book/autocracy

AUTOCRACY IN AMERICA podcast - www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2024/08/introducing-autocracy-in-america/679474/

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Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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