Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want To Run the World

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Applebaum (staff writer, The Atlantic; Twilight of Democracy) explores the connections between autocratic states. She argues that autocracies such as China and Russia are motivated by a shared ideology and desire to increase their own wealth and power. Therefore, she asserts, they cooperate to enrich themselves and to undermine democracies and ideals which threaten their goals. Her book shows that autocracies create their own networks of support to circumnavigate international sanctions, reduce transparency, encourage corruption, and advocate for changing international laws and norms for their own benefit. Additionally, they utilize similar strategies to discredit democracies and dissenters. She explores topics such as money laundering, surveillance, propaganda, and resistance movements to show the similarities in tactics between autocratic states and analyzes how their activities can spill over into democracies. The author clearly explains why autocratic tactics have been effective and uses examples of historic and recent events in places such as China, Russia, Belarus, Venezuela and Zimbabwe to illustrate. Her book includes recommendations for democracies to combat autocracies, which include transparency and joint action.