Lawfare Archive: Anne Applebaum on the Twilight of Democracy

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4.7 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

From July 27, 2020: Anne Applebaum is a columnist, writer, historian and most recently, the author of "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lore of Authoritarianism," a book that explores why authoritarian ideologies are on the ascendance in countries as diverse as Poland, Hungary, Spain, the United States and Great Britain. Benjamin Wittes spoke with Anne about the themes of the book: Why are all of these authoritarian ideologies on the rise now? What is the role of social media in their rise? What are the major themes that they have in common, and how different are they location by location? How did conservative ideology come to fracture the way it has over so brief a period of time? And how is the modern wave of authoritarianism different from earlier iterations of it?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The following podcast contains advertising.
0:04.4	To access an ad-free version of the Lawfare podcast, become a material supporter of Lawfare at
0:11.5	patreon.com slash lawfare. That's patreon.com slash lawfare.
0:18.2	Also, check out Lawfare's other podcast offerings, Rational Security, Chatter,
0:25.2	Lawfare No Bull, and The Aftermath.
0:46.9	I'm Caroline Cornett, Internet Lawfare, with an episode from the Lawfare for May 4th, 2025.
0:53.3	Since President Donald Trump took office, many have warned that the United States is experiencing a shift towards authoritarianism.
0:56.0	Last week, more than 200 retired diplomats and national security experts, including former
1:01.0	ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield, signed an open letter on the
1:06.0	Trump administration's quote, assault on American democracy.
1:10.0	Also, a survey of 500 political scientists found that
1:13.3	the majority believe America is sliding into some form of authoritarianism. For today's archive
1:19.4	episode, I selected an episode from July 27, 2020, in which Benjamin Wittes sat down with Ann Applebaum
1:26.6	to discuss her book, Twilight of Democracy,
1:29.7	The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.
1:32.6	They talked about why authoritarian ideologies are growing in countries as diverse as Hungary,
1:38.0	Spain, and the U.S., the role of social media in their rise, how conservative ideology
1:43.5	fractured the way it did, and how the
1:45.7	modern wave of authoritarianism is different from earlier iterations.
1:57.3	I'm Benjamin Wittes, and this is the Lawfare podcast, July 27th, 2020.
2:04.6	Anne Applebaum is a long-time columnist, writer, historian, and she is the author most recently of the twilight of democracy, the seductive lure of authoritarianism. It is a brief book, but one with broad scope.
2:23.4	Why authoritarian ideologies are on the ascendance in countries as diverse as Poland, Hungary,
	...

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