As the speaker of this year’s Eugene Lunn Memorial Lecture Series, Applebaum emphasized the threats to modern-day democracy
By YUENJO FAN AND AMBER DUHS — features@theaggie.org
On Feb. 9, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian Anne Applebaum headlined the annual Eugene Lunn Memorial Lecture Series. Held at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Applebaum’s speech addressed the contents of her 2024 publication, “Autocracy Inc.,” which documents the increase in democratic backsliding and consolidation of political power by elites.
Applebaum noted the rising presence of autocracies as a major hurdle for democracy, both at home and abroad.
“Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services, military police, sometimes paramilitaries, surveillance and professional propagandists,” Applebaum said. “The members of these networks are connected, not only within a given country but between countries: sometimes among many countries.”
Autocratic regimes attempt to usurp freedoms through propagandizing their own system while attempting to underline the faults and degeneracies of democracy, according to Applebaum. She further discussed that autocracies often rely on the usage and manipulation of shell corporations, anonymous trusts, cryptocurrency and offshore bank accounts to combine political power with wealth, allowing autocracies to manage affairs and increase their potency.
“In practice, what this means is that the corrupt state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt state-controlled or semi-state, semi-private companies in another [country],” Applebaum said.
Applebaum highlighted the Russian, Chinese, Iranian and North Korean regimes, among others, as prime examples of these autocratic systems. Her primary concern resided in America’s changing domestic atmosphere under the current administration, which has, according to her, continued to show glimpses of these autocratic tendencies. The enemy of any such power, Applebaum asserted, is the common people and those who seek a liberal democracy.
“This administration does not define itself as a leader of any kind of democratic alliance,” Applebaum said. “Instead, Donald Trump has begun to align American foreign and domestic policies with the values and practices of the autocratic world.”
Applebaum’s content on autocratic regimes served as somewhat comforting for students who recognize that their world is changing.
“It put words to the emotions that I’ve been feeling — and I know a lot of my peers have been feeling — about the current administration,” Hannah Rollick, a first-year international relations major, said. “It’s good to keep talking about it.”
For Nancy Price, a Davis resident of over 50 years, Applebaum’s words were a reminder of the significant shift in American politics and the importance of staying engaged.
“I must say, it was a very interesting lecture,” Price said. “I think that we could sit here for another three, four or five more hours and discuss where we’re headed in this country […] That’s really part of the point [Applebaum] made — our responsibility as individuals, citizens and community members. We have the opportunity to act, either as individuals or collectively, and talk about the changes we need in this country: to make it more democratic, egalitarian and have policies that benefit all people.”
Applebaum emphasized the importance of knowing one’s power to influence change in America’s democracy — a point that second-year environmental engineering major Alexandra Wolan resonated with.
“People get upset about how the country’s being run or who’s in power, but then they don’t go vote, they don’t engage in discussion [and] they don’t actually ‘be’ citizens,” Wolan said. “You can’t get mad about that if you’re not actually involved in it.”
Applebaum concluded by sharing actions that both students and community members alike can take to combat what she described as the rise in autocratic rule in the U.S.
“The point of being in a democracy is that you can be [politically] involved at any level if you want; No one is stopping you,” Applebaum said. “Take democracy and civic engagement seriously, because, aside from whatever else you do or whatever job you have, you are also a citizen and so you too have a right to learn about [it], to teach it, to debate it, to improve it and defend it.”
Written by: Yuenjo Fan and Amber Duhs — features@theaggie.org
