Robert Kagan on Authoritarianism and the Threat to the Liberal Democratic Order

Conversations with Bill Kristol

News, Society & Culture, Government, Politics

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2019

⏱️ 57 minutes

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Summary

Does the rise of authoritarian powers represent an ideological threat to liberal democracy—or just a strategic challenge? Why must America defend the liberal order created after World War II? In this podcast, Robert Kagan, a historian and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, argues that authoritarian regimes represent an ideological as well as strategic threat to the America-led liberal democratic order. Drawing on his recent essay “The Strongmen Strike Back,” Kagan explains that authoritarian regimes—whatever their differences of character or policy—are united in their ideological opposition to liberalism, and have compelling reasons to try to subvert it wherever possible. Highlighting the growing dangers posed by aggressive authoritarian regimes, now armed with technologies of surveillance, Kagan explains why America must defend liberalism at home and the liberal democratic order abroad.

Transcript

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0:00.0	And the Welcome to Conversations, I'm Bill Crystal and I'm very pleased to be joined today by Bob
0:19.5	Kagan, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, author of many books ranging from big history books on
0:26.2	American history of American foreign policy, dangerous nation is the first of how many volumes?
0:30.8	I don't know.
0:31.8	I think it's four now but I haven't told my publisher yet that's four so
0:34.3	find out but it's the one that exists up till 1900 is that right
0:39.9	the founding beginning until 1900 and many other books many really terrific
0:45.2	shorter books which people might want to begin with before but they can begin
0:48.9	with the dangerous nation too most recently the jungle comes back
0:52.4	as it grows back grows back like jungles do most recently the jungle comes back?
0:52.7	Grows back.
0:53.7	Like jungles do.
0:54.8	Right.
0:55.8	And author of a recent piece as we speak in March,
0:58.3	really terrific piece in the Washington Post,
1:00.4	but a long piece much longer than a typical Western Post piece on sort of the
1:04.5	return of authoritarianism. But, well, maybe just beginning for a minute on the
1:08.6	jungle, goes back and then get to the very interesting argument you make about
1:11.8	authoritarianism.
1:14.2	So what does that mean the jungle goes back?
1:16.2	Well, it means that what people sometimes refer to as a liberal world order,
1:21.2	but basically the American order created after World War II.
	...

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