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Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

by Anne Applebaum
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Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

Sharp insight into democracy's authoritarian temptations

This is a smart, unsettling read for anyone trying to make sense of why strongman politics keeps resurfacing. Applebaum doesn't just describe political shifts, she gets at the personal cravings and social resentments that make authoritarianism feel attractive. Readers who like history tied tightly to the present will find it especially gripping and disturbingly relevant.

  • Lionel Gelber Prize Nominee (2021)
  • Orwell Prize Nominee for Political Writing for Longlist (2021)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.
Just Arrived

Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

by Anne Applebaum
$11.90
Compare to estimated retail price: S$38.00  

The item you've got your eye on is secondhand. You probably already know that, but just in case!

The estimated retail price shown next to any listed item represents the first-hand prices we've seen elsewhere, or the estimated original retail price of a comparable item of the same quality, construction and material offered elsewhere in new condition.

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ISBN: 9780385545808
Authors: Anne Applebaum
Publisher: Doubleday
Date of Publication: 2020-07-21
Format: Hardcover
Related Collections: Politics, Sociology, History, Philosophy
Related Topics: Political Science, History, Society, European History, World History, Government, Sociology, Politics
Goodreads rating: 3.89
(rated by 18328 readers)

Description

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author, professor, and historian offers an expert guide to understanding the appeal of the strongman as a leader and an explanation for why authoritarianism is back with a menacing twenty-first-century twist. Across the world today, from the Americas to Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege while populism and nationalism are on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum offers an unexpected explanation: that there is a deep and inherent appeal to authoritarianism, strongmen, and, especially, to one-party rule—that is, to political systems that benefit true believers, or loyal soldiers, or simply the friends and distant cousins of the Leader, to the exclusion of everyone else. People, she argues, are not just ideological, they are also practical, pragmatic, opportunist. They worry about their families, their houses, their careers. Some political systems offer them possibilities and others don't. In particular, the modern authoritarian parties that have arisen within democracies today offer the possibility of success to people who do not thrive in the meritocratic, democratic, or free-market competition that determines access to wealth and power. Drawing on reporting in Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, and Brazil; using historical examples including Stalinist central Europe and Nazi Germany; and investigating related phenomena: the modern conspiracy theory, nostalgia for a golden past, political polarization, and meritocracy and its discontents, Anne Applebaum brilliantly illuminates the seduction of totalitarian thinking and the eternal appeal of the one-party state.
 

Sharp insight into democracy's authoritarian temptations

This is a smart, unsettling read for anyone trying to make sense of why strongman politics keeps resurfacing. Applebaum doesn't just describe political shifts, she gets at the personal cravings and social resentments that make authoritarianism feel attractive. Readers who like history tied tightly to the present will find it especially gripping and disturbingly relevant.

  • Lionel Gelber Prize Nominee (2021)
  • Orwell Prize Nominee for Political Writing for Longlist (2021)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.