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https://theconversation.com/could-the-worlds-autocrats-successfully-plot-to-defeat-the-west-238894>
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Review: Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World – Anne
Applebaum (Allen Lane)
Three decades ago, many liberals proclaimed victory for democracy and a
“rules-based international order”. But today the majority of the world’s
population live in countries that are only partially free, or are under one
form or another of autocratic rule.
Why are autocracies on the rise? In her new book,
Autocracy, Inc., Pulitzer
prize winner Anne Applebaum provides an answer: there is a “network” among the
world’s autocrats, who use the clandestine routes of our interconnected world
to further their aims and undermine democracy.
Autocracy Inc. is a club of dictators and their states, Applebaum writes. Like
the concept of “autocracy” itself, this incorporation is loose and fluid. The
club’s members are not bound by any ideological kinship or constitutional
structure. Among them are hard dictatorships (like Belarus, China, the Islamic
Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation), and hybrid illiberal democracies
or softer autocracies (like Turkey, Singapore, India, the Philippines and
Hungary).
For some reason, Applebaum does not pay a comparable share of attention to the
Arab monarchies (which do not seek the end of democracy), nor to the hybrid
regimes.
Deals, not ideals, drive the autocrats together, according to Applebaum. Their
collaboration is based on a common obsession with power and money. They face
off against a dwindling group of democracies, which they try to undermine by
all available means.
At times, this confrontation leads to war, as in Ukraine. To Applebaum,
Russia’s war against Ukraine is the first battle in a larger war. It is part of
“a conscious plan to undermine the network of ideas, rules, and treaties” that
have defined the now nearly extinct liberal world order."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
