Book Review: “The Revenge Of Power”: Democracy In Retreat
Angie G50
Frank Racioppi / Medium
Rating: Four out of Four Voting Machines
Ease Of Reading: Well-constructed and lucid argument about the resurgence of authoritarianism in the world today. Length:328 pages.
When To read: Go to YouTube and search for the clip where Donald Trump says being President for life is a good idea and then realize our democracy is in peril.
Moisés Naím, the author, has some serious street cred. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In 2013, the British magazine Prospect listed Naím as one of the world’s leading thinkers. In 2014 and 2015, Naím was ranked among the top 100 influential global thought leaders by Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) for his book The End of Power.
Naim also served as the editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine for 14 years (1996–2010, and he’s the former Minister of Trade and Industry for Venezuela, Director of its Central bank, and Executive Director of the World Bank.
All of that expertise, worldly and academic experience is on full display in his latest book, The Revenge Of Power.
Naim offers his readers a simple premise. There has been a global shift toward autocracy around the world in the last 20 years. According to Naim, this drifting away from democracy and into autocracy has been accomplished without one war or battle. The transition from liberal democracies to autocracies that disguise themselves as democratic institutions has been dramatic. Argentina, Brazil, Hungary, Philippines, Poland, and Turkey are all examples of nations that had subverted democracy for subterranean autocracy.
In the beginning, the book presents the ‘3P’ framework: populism, polarization, and post-truth, which are methods for the new autocrats to eventually transform their countries into “mafia states.”
Naim describes how politics has devolved into pure spectacle and has now blurred the lines between entertainment and politics. Naim points to Berlusconi of Italy and Trump of the U.S. as examples of leaders who are more style than substance.
Naim also notes that research by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein reveals that the political right has moved more quickly to the right than the political left has to the left. Hence, the proliferation of right-wing extremists in France, United States, and other developed nations.
Naim observes that when political differences become identity based, debate shifts from a discussion of ideas to being a conflict over incompatible visions of a good life. The author busts a myth about the poor being attracted to autocrat leaders, noting, “3P Autocrats find acolytes among the disappointed, not the poor.”
People are drawn to autocracy by perceived threats such as immigration, crime, and, most of all, losing standing in society. According to Naim, people feel their place in the moral order is threatened because their place in the economic order is threatened.
When political differences become identity based, debate shifts from a discussion of ideas to being a conflict over incompatible visions of a good life.
The Revenge of Power is packed with alluring characters, riveting stories about power grabs and losses, and vivid examples of the tricks and tactics used by autocrats to counter the forces that are weakening their power. It connects the dots between global events and political tactics that, when taken together, show a profound and often stealthy transformation in power and politics worldwide. Using the best available data and insights taken from recent research in the social sciences, Naim reveals how, on close examination, the same set of strategies to consolidate power pop up again and again in places with vastly different political, economic, and social circumstances, and offers insights about what can be done to ensure that freedom and democracy prevail.
The outcomes of these battles for power will determine if our future will be more autocratic or more democratic. Naim addresses the questions at the heart of the matter: Why is power concentrating in some places, while in others it is fragmenting and degrading? And the big question: What is the future of freedom?
Naim does not leave the reader hanging at the end of the book, and does offer suggestions on how democracies can defend themselves.
The Revenge of Power offers a facile premise at the book’s beginning, and then thoughtfully structures the well-organized and seamlessly presented facts and trends to support that premise. Naim’s writing style emphasizes clarity and conciseness. The book is sprinkled with wit and insight.
There will be enthusiastic Trump supporters who will be offended by the book because Naim includes Trump in the tale of democratic leaders who are moving inexorably toward autocracy. To his Naim’s credit, he treats Trump with the same analysis as he does for Berlusconi of Italy, Erdoğan of Turkey and Duarte of The Philippines. Naim doesn’t project hate, only disapproval and alarm.
Check out The Revenge Of Power. It is a powerful analysis of modern autocracies throughout the world, which are unfortunately spreading in the 21st century.