Description

**AN ECONOMIST AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022**

‘Essential and definitive’ – CATHERINE BELTON, author of PUTIN’S PEOPLE

We are in a new era.

Since the beginning of the millennium, when Vladimir Putin took power in Russia, authoritarian leaders have come to dominate global politics. Self-styled strongmen have risen to power in Moscow, Beijing, Delhi, Brasilia, Budapest, Ankara, Riyadh and Washington.

How and why did this new style of strongman leadership arrive? How likely is it to lead to war or economic collapse? And what forces are in place not only to keep these strongmen in check but to reverse the trend?

Everywhere they go, these leaders encourage a cult of personality. They are nationalists and social conservatives, with little tolerance for minorities, dissent or the interests of foreigners. At home, they claim to stand up for ordinary people against globalist elites; abroad, they posture as the embodiments of their nations. And they are not just operating in authoritarian political systems but have begun to emerge in the heartlands of liberal democracy.

From Putin, Trump and Bolsonaro to Erdogan, Xi and Modi, The Age of the Strongman provides the first truly global treatment of the new nationalism and offers a bold new paradigm for understanding our world.

‘When it comes to making sense of today’s world, Gideon Rachman is in a league of his own’ – Ivan Krastev, co-author of The Light that Failed

Publisher Review

Timely, laser-sharp and unsettling. In telling us about strongmen who dominate politics around the world, Gideon Rachman paints a picture that is at turns illuminating and terrifying. A must read -- Peter Frankopan, author of The New Silk Roads A carefully written analysis of strongman leaders all over the world and the threat they pose to liberal democracy... Rachman illuminates the common instincts, tactics and behaviour that link leaders as diverse as Trump, Putin, Xi and Modi -- Anne Applebaum Essential and definitive... To understand the chilling stakes of the global Great Game defining this century - the battle between autocracies and democracies - you need only turn to Rachman's magisterial and deftly written book -- Catherine Belton, author of Putin's People A searing analysis... A superb and scintillating portrait, indispensable for understanding our crisis-riven age -- Shruti Kapila, author of Violent Fraternity: Indian Political Thought in the Global Age This is a brilliant, unsettling portrait of our era -- Rana Mitter, author of China's Good War In a chaotic world where old definitions of left and right no longer hold, Rachman expertly and artfully surfaces the underlying political, economic and cultural patterns behind the new authoritarianism across the world -- Peter Pomserantsev, author of This Is Not Propaganda When it comes to making sense of today's world, Gideon Rachman is in a league of his own. He is sharp, original and unsentimental. -- Ivan Krastev, co-author of The Light that Failed This readable book does an admirable job of providing the lay of the land and highlighting the importance of the battle of ideas for the future of our institutions and norms * Daron Acemoglu, coauthor of Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor *