Gideon Rachman, chief international affairs columnist for the Financial Times public The era of authoritarian leaders (Crítica), a reflection on the rise in recent decades of strongmen in democracies and dictatorships around the world, from Vladimir Putin, the former, to Xi Jinping, from Bolsonaro to Trump, Orban, Erdogan and … Boris Johnson, who includes in his vast gallery of first-hand portraits, which he talks about at the Aspen Institute in Madrid.
It says we are experiencing the biggest attack on democratic values since 1930. Why?
When Putin comes to power it seems like an isolated event, initially it is thought that he is a liberal democrat, then just an isolated figure, but then it turns out that it is not an anomaly but something that will happen all over the world. There are many influencing factors. We can speak of a revival of nationalism, perhaps it never went away. There was a market these leaders tapped into. They all say what Trump does when he promises to “Make America Great Again”. Putin talks about making Russia great again. Xi of the great rejuvenation. We have gone from a stage where executives seemed ready to abandon nationalism in favor of economic integration to the return of nationalism through the front door.
Was the crisis of 2008, the social networks, decisive?
Economic shocks matter, because these leaders have a rhetoric of national decline and in the West many people felt their lives had gotten worse and the Trump or Brexit rhetoric made sense to them. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this age of strong men is the age of the rise of social media. They have adapted to its charm, because they appeal to emotion and also ignore the press and its verification of whether something is true or not. Trump is the president of Twitter, like Roosevelt on radio and Kennedy on TV.
Is the situation a consequence of neoliberal policies?
of economic change. If you want to call it neoliberal globalization, maybe yes. Many people who did not have a degree and had a good salary now no longer find such a job. No wonder they are upset. It is not just globalization, it is also technological change, but it is not very comforting to tell them that there is nothing to be done and that people are looking for alternatives. They believe things were better in the past. Even today, China and India as a whole are doing well economically, but the jobs for recent graduates are not many and unemployment is high. In China there is a certain nostalgia for Mao: there was more sense of a common project in the face of today’s individualistic society. When Xi says we will not bring the Communist Party back but will sing as a group and create a sense of community, there are people who want it.
He says that today there is a political market for the past. Do we need a new future?
Successful politicians in the 1990s emphasized the future. Clinton wanted to build a bridge to the 21st century. Now a handful of politicians say everything is going wrong and we need to go back. And this fear of the future is also strong on the left, with climate change. My children’s generation is worried about their economic situation, the impossibility of housing, China on the rise. Polls in the UK say only 19% of young people believe democracy works. They don’t trust that it’s obviously the best system because something isn’t working.
Were you surprised that Putin invaded Ukraine?
I wouldn’t have said that six months ago. You look back and say: what did we miss? We had forgotten that war has always been central to Putin. He started the second war in Chechnya as soon as he arrived, invaded Georgia in 2008, annexed Crimea in 2014, intervened in Syria in 2015, and perhaps precisely because they were successful, he is convinced that military power works for him and makes a big mistake. The war is losing it and in a negative way but he still has the power to climb and I don’t think he will accept defeat. Either he is replaced or there is a diplomatic agreement that he and Ukraine can accept, which is difficult.
He says the invasion of Ukraine could be a global turning point if Putin were to suffer defeat.
I was a little optimistic, but it will help. Putin is the archetype of authoritarian leaders, many admire him, including Trump, who a few days before the invasion said he was a genius, and Xi Jinping, who said he was his best friend. Putin’s failure will not eliminate authoritarian leaders, Xi will not say he will step down, but if Putin is miraculously replaced by a more liberal regime, things don’t look so good for Xi. The political atmosphere changes, the West seems a little stronger. Putin and Xi’s narrative is about the decline and weakness of the West and the inevitability of the collapse of these societies, and let’s face it, there is some supporting evidence. But if the West manages to overtake Russia, the global narrative changes.
