Strongmen and How to Push Back Against Them, with Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Authoritarianism is spreading across the globe, and the United States has become the latest front of the struggle between autocracy and democracy. This talk covers the key elements of the authoritarian playbook—corruption, violence, propaganda, machismo, and leader cults—and how they are deployed today by autocratic forces in Italy, Hungary, the US, and elsewhere. Ben-Ghiat also looks at the most effective strategies to push back against authoritarians. We are living through a global renaissance of mass nonviolent protest which is giving energy to the fight to save democracy. We in the US can learn from the struggles of those facing autocrats abroad, she argues. We can not just save our democracy but rethink it to make it stronger and more appealing to future generations as well.