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The Autocrat’s Toolkit
- Dissent
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Voume 64, Number 1, Winter 2017
- pp. 20-25
- 10.1353/dss.2017.0005
- Article
- Additional Information
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Confidence in the exceptional resilience of American democracy is particularly misplaced in the face of today’s illiberal populist movements, whose leaders are constantly learning from each other. Trump has a wide variety of tried and tested techniques on which to draw; already, he has vowed to take pages out of Putin’s playbook. Defenders of liberal democracy, too, must learn from each other’s victories and defeats. Below are some hard-earned lessons from countries that have been overrun by the contemporary wave of illiberal democracy. They could be essential for preserving the American republic in the dark years to come.