Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends
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A FINANCIAL TIMES, ECONOMIST AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020
‘The most important non-fiction book of the year’ David Hare
In the years just before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people from across the political spectrum in Europe and America celebrated a great achievement, felt a common purpose and, very often, forged personal friendships. Yet over the following decades the euphoria evaporated, the common purpose and centre ground gradually disappeared, extremism rose once more and eventually – as this book compellingly relates – the relationships soured too.
Anne Applebaum traces this history in an unfamiliar way, looking at the trajectories of individuals caught up in the public events of the last three decades. When politics becomes polarized, which side do you back? If you are a journalist, an intellectual, a civic leader, how do you deal with the re-emergence of authoritarian or nationalist ideas in your country? When your leaders appropriate history, or pedal conspiracies, or eviscerate the media and the judiciary, do you go along with it?
Twilight of Democracy is an essay that combines the personal and the political in an original way and brings a fresh understanding to the dynamics of public life in Europe and America, both now and in the recent past.
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Additional information
| Publisher | 1st edition (24 Jun. 2021), Penguin |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 224 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0141991674 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0141991672 |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 1.3 x 19.8 cm |
by Eric Lee
Anne Applebaum is a great historian, a terrific journalist and a strong opponent of authoritarian regimes everywhere. But this book disappoints.
It begins with a party she and her Polish husband hosted in 1999. Their friends at the time were people who had participated the democratic movements that helped bring down Communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe. Twenty years on, she says she would cross the street to avoid meeting half of them — and the feeling is mutual.
This is due to the fact that many of her former centre-right friends in places like Poland and Hungary are no longer centre-right; they now identify with what some call ‘populism’ and others call the ‘far right’ or ‘alt right’.
So far, so good. But the book offers little beyond anecdotes about Applebaum’s former friends, and why they are ‘former’. This includes stories of old friends reluctantly meeting her and then insisting on recording their conversation. Stuff like that.
Applebaum’s other books are rigorously researched and footnoted; this one reads more like something she might recount at one of her parties. It’s not without interest — most things she writes are interesting by default — but it’s not her best work by far.
by Frank Lepave
A short informative review of the decline of post-communist democracies towards autocracy. It could have been much more generic with information about say Venezuela, Brasil, Chile, Turkey, Israel. It could be very depressing for a democrat to read and does not capture the ability of societies to change towards democracy. Yes the second raters like to fix things for themselves but others come along in the next generation eager to push them out. No society is in a permanent fixed stable democratic state. The price of freedom is constant vigilance.
by Two Ton Ted
The author describes how in her view, democracy as we know it over the last 20 years has lost its appeal to voters and is being replaced by populism with nationalism. The author identifies the optimism of 1989 and the genuine belief that western democracy has won the Cold War. With her Polish links she identifies how many of her academic and government associates up to the millennium really believed in the positives of western democracy. Sadly she then describes how the attitudes have changed among those same people, many now supporting, justifying and participating in the less than democratic methods working their way into governments of Poland Hungary, and also gaining increasing support in many parts of the world.
A personal view, the author describes her disappointment with people that she had thought were good friends with open minds , now showing closed attitudes and too easily accepting what is happening.
by Captain Solo
It is rare that I rate anything with 5 stars, but Applebaum’s narrative sounds a clear note amidst the cacophony of lies, fake news and social media manipulation. Those divisions we see today and are surprised by, are not new. They are old crevasses, briefly covered only to be exposed again and again. The rhetoric of the new right is frighteningly similar to that of 1930’s Germany.
If you read one book this year, it should be this one!
by Eugene
The world seems to have gone bonkers, especially since 2016. World leaders, the press, the population generally, and depressingly even close friends, seem to be lurching to the right and swallowing whole the dystopian lunacy being presented as some kind of promising future. This book puts into words the thoughts and feelings that I found difficult to express. I’m still frustrated, depressed and on the verge of going broke, but with Applebaum’s persuasive and engaging writing I now have a better understanding and vocabulary to describe how and why!
by MR C J WOODS
Interesting read, both as a “written in the moment” perspective on a period of historical change, and also as the personal point of view shows how small and incestuous the world of those in power (and those who want to be in power) really is. Whether on the right or left, journalist, power broker or politician, the book makes it appear that the elite (alt-right to hard left) all went to the same universities, attend the same parties and socialise in the same orbits. My main takeaway is that us “normal people” are just play things for different groups who are trying different ways to seek power. A whole cadre of groups trying to rile us up to make us fearful or angry so that we would join the fight for their version of a better future (or at least to preserve their imagined past).
The narrative is book-ended by two parties involving members of these groups – and describes the reasons why the friendships and allegiances of these groups are broken. What the author misses is that they are all lucky members of a globalist group – able to fly between countries to attend parties, speak many languages and to live as though the world is one without borders. These globalists did not notice that the majority were left behind and do not live in that world. Borders and opportunity are closed to many, who can only look on, perhaps enviously, at the lifestyles of those chosen few. Meritocracy fails when lack of connections, or money, or birth, gender, race or culture stack the deck and restrict opportunity. An equal world is not an equitable world. In many ways, I think what this book is describing is how one group of globalist elites is taking advantage of the decline in social mobility and the broken promise of a university education always leading to a better life. The author makes many good points about the threat to meritocracy, and the various big and medium lies now threatening democracy. But, I gained most insight when the author wrote about the shift to assigning jobs and power based on party loyalty rather than qualifications or competence. Perhaps the big lie now being exposed is that power and jobs today are not given based on qualifications or competence, but still on connections, class, family and privilege. And in this “meritocratic” world of winners and losers, the losers far outnumber the winners.
This was a very good read and I do recommend it. I’ve been recently through “Why nations fail”, and the two “Silk Roads” books by Peter Frankopan (the second of which finished just before the current epidemic – which I suspect will trigger a third to be written soon). This book feels like it naturally follows on as a contemporary and personal view of current events. The fact it includes parts of the current time, and personal experience of the sudden reimposition of borders makes it very interesting. Thought-provoking, intelligently written and a little depressing.