ATTENTION! STRONGMEN

Tessa Szyszkowitz in conversation with GIDEON RACHMAN

ATTENTION! STRONGMEN
How Xi, Putin, Trump & Co threaten democracy

Since Vladimir Putin has unleashed war on the Ukraine the political definition of strongmen has changed from potential threat to world peace to actual threat to world peace. For two decades authoritarian leaders have come to dominate global politics. Self-styled strongmen have risen to power in Beijing, Delhi, Brasilia, Budapest, Ankara, Riyadh and Washington. From Putin, Trump and Bolsonaro to Erdogan, Xi and Modi, The Age of the Strongman  - auf Deutsch bei Weltkiosk: Welt der Autokraten -  provides the first truly global treatment of the new nationalism and offers a bold new paradigm for understanding our world. Everywhere they go, these leaders encourage a cult of personality. They are nationalists and social conservatives, with little tolerance for minorities, dissent, or the interests of foreigners. At home, they claim to stand up for ordinary people against globalist elites; abroad, they posture as the embodiments of their nations. And they are not just operating in authoritarian political systems but have begun to emerge in the heartlands of liberal democracy.

'When it comes to making sense of today's world, Gideon Rachman is in a league of his own.'
Ivan Krastev, The Light that Failed

Gideon Rachman is chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times. He joined the FT in 2006, after 15 years at The Economist, where he served as a correspondent in Washington D.C., Brussels, and Bangkok. In 2010 Rachman published his first book, Zero Sum World, which predicted the rise in international political tensions and turmoil that followed the global financial crisis. In 2016, Rachman won the Orwell Prize, Britain's leading award for political writing. He was also named Commentator of the year at the European Press Prize, known as the "European Pulitzers."

Tessa Szyszkowitz is a foreign affairs commentator for Falter and a UK correspondent for profil & Cicero. Her last book was Echte Engländer, Britain & Brexit (2018). She is also Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.