Guest lecture: Autocracy, Inc

All of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an autocratic state looks like. There is a bad man at the top. He controls the army and the police. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents. 

But in the 21st century, that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. They don't share an ideology, but they do have a common goal: to defeat the ideas and language of liberal democracy, inside their own countries and around the world. 

This lecture will examine this network, and describe how it has shaped our world, in the UK, Europe and the United States. 

About the speaker

Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, journalist, and leading voice on democracy, democratic backsliding and authoritarianism. 

She is the author of several acclaimed books, including Gulag: A History, Iron Curtain, Red Famine, and Twilight of Democracy. Her latest work, Autocracy, Inc., examines how modern autocracies collaborate to undermine democratic systems worldwide. 

About this event

This lecture is hosted by Dr Marietta van der Tol and the Imagining Sacred Lands project (Alfred Landecker Foundation), in partnership with the University of Cambridge Development and Alumni Relations team.

This guest lecture is open to all University of Cambridge members, including staff, students and alumni. Alumni should use the link above to secure a place.

Learn more about Dr Van der Tol’s Imagining Sacred Lands project (via divinity.cam.ac.uk).

Featured image: Anne Applebaum, photograph courtesy of subject (2020).