The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, with Anne Applebaum (Part 1)

In the 20th century most autocrats were brutal dictators whose main goal was to control a domestic population. But in the 21st century autocracy has become much more sophisticated and ambitious in its scope. States like Russia have developed sophisticated cross-border networks of kleptocratic financial structures, innovative security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship aim to do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. Propagandists from one country can promote and finance extremists and propaganda in another — pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of the West. In September 2024 Anne Applebaum came to Intelligence Squared to provide a radical new framework for understanding autocracy in the 21st century.