Autocracy, s. r. o.

An autocratic state - with a villain sitting at the top. He is in charge of the army and the police. These elements threaten the population with violence. On one side are the gutless collaborators, on the other a few brave dissidents. But in today's autocracies, one villain does not rule, their basis is an intertwined network of kleptocratic financial structures, complex security services - military, paramilitary, police - and surveillance experts, propaganda and disinformation. The members of this network in a given country are not only connected to each other, but also to networks in other autocratic countries, and sometimes even in democracies. Corrupt state companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt state companies in another. Journalist and author Anne Applebaum provides a suggestive look at a global phenomenon - modern autocracy operating on the principle of international kleptocracy. The most widespread and relatively new belief of autocrats is that they are untouchable by the outside world, that they are not concerned with the opinions and attitudes of other countries, and that they are not subject to the court of public opinion. They are indifferent to international criticism and do not hesitate to use open brutality. Their main aim is to stay in power and in the name of that they are willing to destabilise their neighbours and ruin the lives of ordinary people. Anne Applebaum calls on democratic states to reorient their policies to combat this new kind of global threat. Everyone assumed that in a more open and connected world, democracy and liberal ideas would spread to autocratic states. No one thought that autocracy and illiberalism could spread to the democratic world.