Since the 1980s, “when Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were the faces of the Conservative Movement, [it was] a movement that was anti-Communist, that emphasized the rule of law, of free markets, and democracy. What changed?” This question is at the heart of this episode, in which EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes author Anne Applebaum to talk about her newest book, The Twilight of Democracy.
Since that time, both the United States and the United Kingdom have seen a split between a Burkean center-right and a more radical right. Applebaum recalls a New Year’s Eve party in 1999, noting how many of its jovial guests would no longer even speak to one another as illustrative of this split. Politics, says Applebaum, has become increasingly, and perhaps dangerously, personal.
1- What reasons does Applebaum cite for the disappearance of community and civic organizations and institutions in recent decades? What role has the Internet played in this trend? Do you think the advent of the digital age’s new technologies is net positive or negative?
2- How does Applebaum describe the “authoritarian personality?” To what extent do you find this plausible, and why? How might such a description describe recent events, from Portland, Oregon to Belarus?
3- How does Applebaum distinguish between nationalism and populism? Which do you think poses the greater danger? What does she mean when she says we need a more sophisticated way of understanding what divides people?
4- Applebaum says of the Internet, “We know what an authoritarian internet looks like. It’s fully controlled. But, we haven’t really had the conversation about what we want our internet to look like, and how it can have rules that foster free speech without fostering extremism.” What might such an Internet actually look like? To what extent would it be effective in stifling the allure of authoritarianism?
5- Roberts claims he is more worried about the authoritarian Left, while Applebaum is more worried about the authoritarian Right. With whom do you agree, and why? And, as Roberts asks his guest at the end of the conversation, where should we go from here? Should we be more optimistic or pessimistic?
READER COMMENTS
Gregory McIsaac
Nov 10 2020 at 2:18pm
I think the framing of question 5 does not precisely reflect the transcript. Rather than saying he is more worried about authoritarianism on the Left in general, Russ Roberts says: “I think I’m more worried about the Left than you [Anne Applebaum] are. I’m equally worried about the Right…”
Applebaum points to her previous books to note that she is not naïve about the bad directions the Left can go, but she is more worried about the Right at the present time.
At the present time, I am more sympathetic to Ann Applebaum’s position as it applies to the situation in several countries including the US. At the US federal level, the Right currently controls the Presidency, the Senate and the Supreme Court. Applebaum and others (e.g., Garry Kasparov, Masha Gessen) note disturbing parallels between the current US president, his enablers, and Right authoritarians elsewhere such as demanding loyalty to himself rather than to the rule of law, declaring an election invalid if he loses, expressing a desire to use the military as a domestic police force, telling obvious lies and expecting his enablers to repeat or defend the lies.
I am cautiously optimistic about the future in part because of the conduct and results of the 2020 election. There was historically high participation without reports of intimidation or violence. The claims of vote fraud are working their way through the courts. I suspect they will amount to nothing, just as the vote fraud commission formed after the 2016 election was dismissed. If so, then the Left will control the House of Representatives and the Presidency, and the Right will control the Senate and Supreme Court. I think there is a good chance Biden will be a less divisive figure than the previous three presidents.
As far as moving forward, I like the vision and projects of the Renew Democracy Initiative, which involves people from Right and Left, including Anne Applebaum and Garry Kasparov. https://rdi.org/
I also think we should avoid demonizing people we disagree with politically and philosophically and also discourage demonization by not subscribing to news outlets or authors who routinely engage in that approach. There seems to have long been a lucrative market in literature demonizing “the other side”, and it probably expands in times of stress and uncertainty when the desire to find a scapegoat rises. It is probably destabilizing and dangerous if half the population, or even a significant minority, firmly believe in false conspiracy theories.
Amy Willis
Nov 11 2020 at 9:53am
That’s a fair point about the question, thanks. I love your optimism, and personally share it. Thanks for listening and thinking with us!
Diana Weatherby
Nov 10 2020 at 9:51pm
Adam Smith wrote in A Theory of Moral Sentiments, “It was, it seems, the intention of Nature, that those rougher and more unamiable emotions, which drive men from one another, should be less easily and more rarely communicated. ”
I’m pretty sure the internet has made these communitions both easy and common.
Amy Willis
Nov 11 2020 at 9:52am
Great quote, of course.
su tang
Nov 24 2020 at 9:11pm
We can not call communist party in China criminal regime because in doing that we are demonizing communist party. When we call a guy the right, he is automatically become authoritarian person. The elites in the university always like playing this tricks because it always works on their students.
Comments are closed.