Fantastic work by @anneapplebaum.bsky.social … horrifying but accurate, I’m zipping through this book. I’m one of those who (in the 90s) thought democracy would spread. And… here we are.
Replies
Excellent book!
jan 4, 2025, 4:08 am • 1 0 • view
Autocracy and illiberalism were chosen by voters, not dictators. In every society there are sympathizers of illiberalism - but a healthy democracy keeps them in the minority. It is not dictators, but voters who are the problem.
jan 4, 2025, 5:49 am • 1 1 • view
your link is broken I don't disagree, but once the autocracy & illiberalism are chosen by voters it's not like they're free to UNchoose—the dictators entrench, they fear that very possibility(of course). Voters in America just fucked up in a major way & they're determined to find out the hard way.
jan 4, 2025, 2:46 pm • 1 0 • view
This book is a a “must read”. I learned a lot and is an eye-opener.
jan 4, 2025, 4:03 am • 2 0 • view
I keep trying to get people to read it but so far I don't think I have had much luck. The best I can come up with is that people are stuck within the bipolar American political framework that basically doesn't track with the rest of the world at all.
jan 4, 2025, 4:06 am • 0 0 • view
Depends on the people, for sure. Some will never change their worldview. Mine was inaccurate in the 90s, which I realized not long after (much to my disappointment) and I've been very determined to keep updating since then. Most people resist all attempts at updating their worldview, not seek it out
jan 4, 2025, 2:42 pm • 2 0 • view
I hear you. I wish I had decent theory about this. Am baffled.
jan 4, 2025, 4:08 am • 1 0 • view
I went and got it. Thanks for recommending
jan 4, 2025, 12:19 pm • 2 0 • view
It did spread. And then it didn't.
jan 4, 2025, 10:12 am • 0 0 • view
Important book! My spouse read it to me in the car when we drove to see family over the holidays.
jan 4, 2025, 11:40 am • 1 0 • view
I deeply appreciate its brevity and conciseness! It's very possible to read aloud over a car trip. And I like that approach! I might have to try that sometime with my spouse (if I can do it without getting car sick!)
jan 4, 2025, 2:51 pm • 0 0 • view
In the 1990s, the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight and neoliberals, congratulating themselves for a victory they were not responsible for, declared "the end of history" and the "West" became complacent.
jan 4, 2025, 6:22 am • 0 0 • view
But democracy and freedom DID spread, right? Just slower and with more resistance than expected - and hoped. The insight must be that autocrats do not let go voluntarily and new ones can and will pop up. Hence, a deliberate, realistic and consequent policy of the free world is needed!
jan 4, 2025, 6:34 am • 1 0 • view
The idea that economic liberalisation in China would result in political liberalisation was entrenched in the West & deeply wrong. So no, it did *not* spread. We did *not* foresee the extreme effectiveness of Chinese control of information in the age of the internet. I recommend reading the book.
jan 4, 2025, 2:48 pm • 0 0 • view
All systems consolidate before they break down. WWII was a massive dis-integration which allowed us to build new institutions with buffers & valves & stabilising feedback. Unfortunately we lost it all in a mad 10 years from the Nixon shock. Now the autocrats & oligarchs are back in control.
jan 4, 2025, 7:52 am • 0 0 • view
Adding to my reading stack. Thank you for the quote <3
jan 4, 2025, 5:03 am • 1 0 • view
Poland, Brazil, Chile, Ukraine all offer hope of how democracy can be restored. It will rebound here, too…..eventually.
jan 4, 2025, 3:56 am • 2 0 • view
I mean... that's some serious optimism! Or perhaps not given how horrific things have been in all those places, esp Ukraine rn
jan 4, 2025, 4:01 am • 1 0 • view
📌
jan 4, 2025, 4:32 am • 0 0 • view
The 90s were so optimistic. I wish I’d realized at the time how blindly optimistic so many of us were.
jan 4, 2025, 3:57 am • 5 0 • view
I don't think it was blind. There were good reasons to believe in the triumph of liberal democracy. Apart from the evident victory in the Cold War, the methods and dynamics by which it's been eroded since weren't at all obvious then.
jan 4, 2025, 10:14 am • 1 0 • view
Just because it wasn't obvious doesn't mean we shouldn't have seen it. That we didn't *was* due to a kind of blindness, a faith that was part-and-parcel of American mythology. I highly recommend you read the book for more details about this.
jan 4, 2025, 2:50 pm • 0 0 • view
It is a book I aim to read at some point but back in the 1990s, there was no social media (indeed, barely an internet), China and Russia were not meaningful players and looked to be trending Westward anyway. What has come to be was far from preordained.
jan 4, 2025, 4:26 pm • 0 0 • view
But I recall editorials about rampant corruption. I saw commentary about chaos reigning in Russia, Ukraine, & elsewhere as organized crime flourished exponentially, & oligarchs coordinated & consolidated their own powers over a populace that had earnest hopes for democratic ideals, soon dashed.
jan 5, 2025, 9:15 am • 1 0 • view
Yes, that all happened. But not everywhere, and certainly not all to the same degree. The Baltic states show that Russia's path wasn't the only one available.
jan 5, 2025, 9:59 am • 1 0 • view
No one (including the book) is saying autocracy was the only path available—what it’s saying is that the pervasive view was that there was no risk, no downside, all upside to engagement. That democracy would spread and there was no risk of backward infection. I think that’s an accurate assessment.
jan 5, 2025, 12:48 pm • 2 0 • view
Yes, I see what you're saying. Thank you.
jan 5, 2025, 10:14 am • 0 0 • view
Me too. But I now see I had a narrow view of what was happening based on American propaganda (this is not a value judgement on American propaganda, just an observation).
jan 4, 2025, 4:04 am • 1 0 • view
Fantastic book.
jan 4, 2025, 4:44 am • 1 0 • view