The Making of an Autocrat

The Conversation
  • 4.7 (40)
  • NEWS COMMENTARY
  • UPDATED DAILY

The Conversation Documentaries (formerly The Anthill) is podcast from The Conversation. Our documentary series cover everything from science to the environment, politics, culture and economics. We unearth new stories from the world of academia and talk to experts to shed light on some of the big questions of today. The Conversation is a not-for-profit independent media organisation and our journalists work with academics to help share their research knowledge with as many people as possible.

  1. The Making of an Autocrat: beat the courts

    1D AGO

    The Making of an Autocrat: beat the courts

    In democratic systems, the courts are a vital check on a leader’s power. They have the ability to overturn laws and, in Donald Trump’s case, the executive orders he has relied on to achieve his goals. Since taking office, Trump has targeted the judiciary with a vengeance. He has attacked what he has called "radical left judges" and is accused of ignoring or evading court orders. The Supreme Court has already handed the Trump administration some key wins in his second term. But several cases now before the court will be pivotal in determining how much power Trump is able to accrue – and what he'll be able to do with it.

    19 min
  2. The Making of an Autocrat: manufacture a crisis

    1D AGO

    The Making of an Autocrat: manufacture a crisis

    Donald Trump has sounded the alarm, over and over again, that the United States is facing an “invasion” by dangerous gang members. He blames immigrants for the country's economic problems and claims protesters are destroying US cities. Trump is not the first would-be autocrat to manufacture a crisis to seize extraordinary powers. So, is the United States really facing a national emergency? Or is this just a tactic on Trump’s part to amass more power?

    16 min
  3. The Making of an Autocrat: recruit an architect

    1D AGO

    The Making of an Autocrat: recruit an architect

    Every autocrat needs a clan of loyalists, strategists, masterminds – these are the figures behind the scenes pulling the strings. They’re unelected and unaccountable, yet they wield a huge amount of power. This is the role Stephen Miller has played for Donald Trump – he is the architect in chief for the second Trump administration. He has so much power, in fact, he’s reportedly referred to as the "prime minister" So who is Stephen Miller? And why are architects so important in helping a would-be autocrat amass power?

    18 min
  4. The Making of an Autocrat: hijack a party

    1D AGO

    The Making of an Autocrat: hijack a party

    We used to have a pretty clear idea of what an autocrat was. History is full of examples: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, along with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping today. The list goes on. So, where does Donald Trump fit in? In this six-part podcast series, The Making of an Autocrat, we ask six experts on authoritarianism and US politics to explain how exactly an autocrat is made – and whether Trump is on his way to becoming one.

    19 min
  5. The Making of an Autocrat, coming soon

    DEC 22

    The Making of an Autocrat, coming soon

    We used to have a pretty clear idea of what an autocrat was. History is full of examples: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, along with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping today. The list goes on. So, where does Donald Trump fit in? In this six-part podcast series, The Making of an Autocrat, we are asking six experts on authoritarianism and US politics to explain how exactly an autocrat is made – and whether Trump is on his way to becoming one.

    1 min
  6. Scam Factories Ep 3: Great Escapes

    JUN 12

    Scam Factories Ep 3: Great Escapes

    Every day that he was locked up in a scam compound in Southeast Asia, George thought about how to get out. "We looked for means of escaping, but it was hard," he said. Scam Factories is a podcast series taking you inside Southeast Asia's brutal fraud compounds. It accompanies a series of multimedia articles on The Conversation. In our third and final episode, Great Escapes, we find out the different ways survivors manage to escape, what it takes for them to get home, and what is being done to clamp down on the industry. This podcast series first aired in February 2025 on The Conversation Weekly. In June 2025 it won Best Investigative Podcast at the Publisher Podcast Awards. The series was written and produced by Gemma Ware with production assistance from Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design by Michelle Macklem. Leila Goldstein was our producer in Cambodia and Halima Athumani recorded for us in Uganda. Hui Lin helped us with Chinese translation. Editing help from Justin Bergman and Ashlynee McGhee. Getting out of Southeast Asia's scam factoriesFrom empty fields to locked cities: the rise of a billion-dollar criminal industry‘We could hear the screams until midnight’: life inside Southeast Asia’s brutal fraud compounds

    45 min
  7. Scam Factories Ep 2: Inside the operation

    JUN 12

    Scam Factories Ep 2: Inside the operation

    A few weeks after Ben Yeo travelled to Cambodia for what he thought was a job in a casino, he found himself locked up in a padded room. “It’s a combination between a prison and a madhouse,” he remembers. He was being punished for refusing to conduct online scams. Scam Factories is a podcast and multimedia series taking you inside Southeast Asia's brutal fraud compounds. The Conversation collaborated for this series with three researchers: Ivan Franceschini, a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Melbourne, Ling Li, a PhD candidate at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, and Mark Bo, an independent researcher. In the second episode, Inside the Operation, we explore the history of how scam compounds emerged in Southeast Asia and who is behind them. We hear about the violent treatment people receive inside through the testimonies of two survivors, Ben, and another man we're calling George to protect his real identity. This podcast series first aired in February 2025 on The Conversation Weekly. In June 2025 it won Best Investigative Podcast series at the Publisher Podcast Awards. The series was written and produced by Gemma Ware with production assistance from Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design by Michelle Macklem. Leila Goldstein was our producer in Cambodia and Halima Athumani recorded for us in Uganda. Hui Lin helped us with Chinese translation. Editing help from Justin Bergman and Ashlynee McGhee. Rise of an industry: part 2 of Scam FactoriesLocked in: the inside story of Southeast Asia's fraud compounds

    39 min
  8. Scam Factories Ep 1: No skills required

    JUN 12

    Scam Factories Ep 1: No skills required

    Scam factories is a special three-part series taking you inside Southeast Asia's brutal fraud compounds. Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to work in these scam factories. Many were trafficked there and forced into criminality by defrauding people around the world. The Conversation collaborated for this series with three researchers: Ivan Franceschini, a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Melbourne, Ling Li, a PhD candidate at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, and Mark Bo, an independent researcher. In episode 1, our researchers travel to a village in Cambodia called Chrey Thom to see what these compounds look like. And we hear from two survivors about how they were recruited into compounds in Laos and Myanmar. This podcast series was first aired in February 2025 on The Conversation Weekly podcast. In June 2025 it won Best Investigative Podcast series at the Publisher Podcast Awards. The series was written and produced by Gemma Ware with production assistance from Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design by Michelle Macklem. Leila Goldstein was our producer in Cambodia and Halima Athumani recorded for us in Uganda. Hui Lin helped us with Chinese translation. Editing help from Justin Bergman and Ashlynee McGhee. Locked in: the inside story of Southeast Asia's fraud compounds‘It seemed like a good job at first’: how people are trafficked, trapped and forced to scam in Southeast Asia – Scam Factories podcast, Ep 1

    34 min
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4.7
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About

The Conversation Documentaries (formerly The Anthill) is podcast from The Conversation. Our documentary series cover everything from science to the environment, politics, culture and economics. We unearth new stories from the world of academia and talk to experts to shed light on some of the big questions of today. The Conversation is a not-for-profit independent media organisation and our journalists work with academics to help share their research knowledge with as many people as possible.

Information

  • Channel
    The Conversation
  • Creator
    The Conversation
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2025
  • Episodes
    98
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Licenced as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
  • Show Website
    The Making of an Autocrat

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