Autocracy, Inc by Anne Applebaum

Autocracy, Inc by Anne Applebaum – the dictators who want to run the world – is the second book I read by her. The first one was Red Famine, on the Holodomor. This is a relatively short book which is definitely worth reading. I gave the book 4.5 stars because I think she should have considered western corruption more than she does. This is the only small criticism I can make on this book. Gerhard Schröder earned almost $1 million every year from russian related companies, that’s corruption.

The book is about the networks which form authoritarian states. These are a mix of kleptocratic financial structures, security services, and professional propagandists. They are also linked and interdependent on other states and not stand-alone autocracies. The best example for this is, of course, propaganda, as it easily flows between various autocracies. This is completely correct. russia, for example, uses an array of propagandists to influence public opinion in US, for example, by paying both propagandists within US [e.g. TENET Media] and from others places like Australia [Simeon “Aussie Cossack” Boikov], Canada [Jordan Peterson], and Malayasia [Ian Miles Cheong]. These are my examples.

I liked that Applebaum talked about the wrong assumptions many made, from trade as a tool of democratisation and that technology will help against tyranny. She also gives a very good perspective on how the messaging has changed from showing how good the autocracies are to a messaging that aims at making people passive – all are the same, so why bother fighting for a democracy when it’s so much like an autocracy anyway.

Another really good thing about this book is that it doesn’t ignore the rest of the world to focus on a few western countries and the well known autocracies. She wrote about someone I was not familiar with, pastor Mawarire. He is from Zimbabwe and thought hard for democracy in his country. He was not successful, but his fight is an inspiration. He was imprisoned, tortured, and his captors couldn’t understand who is paying him and how did he pay people to protest. They couldn’t imagine that him and the other people protesting were doing it because of ideology, of the want for freedom and not because of payments. She gave another example like that – of russian who couldn’t believe people would put themselves in harm’s way for freedom and democracy. I have to say that another example was just as good, but she missed it – US politicians who think that NAFO and activists online are doing it because they are paid and not because they care.

Autocracy, Inc by Anne Applebaum

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My rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Allen Lane
Year it was published: 2024
Format: Hardcover
Genre(s): Politics
Pages: 224

About the author: Anne Elizabeth Applebaum is a Polish-American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about Marxism–Leninism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked at The Economist and The Spectator, and was a member of the editorial board of The Washington Post.
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