Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

“At that moment, when Poland was on the cusp of joining the West, it felt as if we were all on the same team. We agreed about democracy, about the road to prosperity, about the way we were going. That moment has passed. Nearly two decades later, I would now cross the street to avoid some of the people who were at my New Year’s Eve party. They, in turn, would not only refuse to enter my house, they would be embarrassed to admit they had ever been there. In fact, about half the people who were at that party would no longer speak to the other half.”

Throughout the book, Applebaum interjects personal experiences with people holding illiberal or authoritarian views. A recurring theme is that these people become estranged from others who do not share their beliefs. Such polarization is a common consequence, Applebaum argues, of authoritarian politics.

“I remembered reading a famous journal kept by the Romanian writer Mihail Sebastian from 1935 to 1944. In it, he chronicled an even more extreme shift in his own country. Like me, Sebastian was Jewish, though not religious; like me, most of his friends were on the political right. In the journal, he described how, one by one, they were drawn to fascist ideology, like a flock of moths to an inescapable flame. He recounted the arrogance and confidence his friends acquired as they moved away from identifying themselves as Europeans—admirers of Proust, travelers to Paris—and instead began to call themselves blood-and-soil Romanians. He listened as they veered into conspiratorial thinking or became casually cruel.”

As a historian, Applebaum often draws on events and writers from the past, even though Twilight of Democracy is a book about current events. Even though there are significant differences, past experiences like those of Sebastian do help us understand why these trends are happening. They also provide reason to hope that no negative social and political situation is “permanent” (186).

“Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy. Indeed, if history is anything to go by, all of our societies eventually will.”

Applebaum often compares her own experiences and trends in modern society to past events and individuals. This is just one example of her claim that these trends repeat themselves in history.