logo

35 pages 1 hour read

Anne Applebaum

Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2020

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 2 Summary: “How Demagogues Win”

Applebaum argues that the history of one-party rule began with the Soviet Union under Lenin. The historical pattern set by the Soviet Union was that one party would rule the government and fill political positions and the media with party loyalists. Applebaum describes this pattern as the rejection of the concept of a “neutral state,” which means a nation where the media tries to be objective and civil servants are not loyal to a single political party or agenda (24). Applebaum argues both left-wing and right-wing authoritarians are cynical because they reject the idea that the institutions of democratic and capitalist nations can actually be neutral and objective. This is how authoritarian governments justify filling those institutions with people loyal to the ruling party.

However, Applebaum goes on to state that even governments that technically had multiple political parties can count as one-party states. She writes, “But a one-party state is not necessarily a state with no opposition parties at all […] there are plenty of examples of one-party states […] that permitted some limited opposition, if only for show” (25). She gives a number of examples, including apartheid South Africa, Communist Poland, Venezuela under Hugo Chavez, and Vladimir Putin’s Russia (25-26). These governments have relied on clercs who control the state media, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, and sometimes state-run businesses. Still, she focuses on the Law and Justice party in Poland and Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party in Hungary. Both of these parties, Applebaum alleges, stayed in power by replacing civil servants with party members and allies (26-27).

Discussing why people support the Fidesz and the Law and Justice parties, Applebaum cites several reasons. First, many people felt left out by the introduction of free market reforms in Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism in the 1990s. Because many former Communist officials profited from these reforms, the Fidesz and Law and Justice parties have branded their enemies and the people who have run the Hungarian and Polish governments as Communists (27-28). Second, Applebaum argues, “Resentment, envy, and above all the belief that the ‘system’ is unfair—not just to the country, but to you—these are important sentiments among the nativist ideologues of the Polish right” (29).

Applebaum describes the story of Jacek Kurski, who helped found the Law and Justice party, and his brother Jarosław. Both brothers had experience as anti-Communist activists. In adulthood, Jacek became the director of Polish state television, Telewizja Polska, and a member of the Law and Justice party. Jarosław became an editor for Poland’s largest liberal newspaper. On Jacek, Applebaum writes, “He is not an ideologue or a true believer; he is a man who wants the power and fame that he feels he has been unjustly denied” (33). When placed in control of Telewizja Polska, Jacek made sure it was no longer “politically neutral” (35). In one incident, a city mayor villainized by Telewizja Polska, Paweł Adamowicz, was later assassinated.

Next, Applebaum discusses how the political movements of 21st-century Europe differ from the Fascist and Communist parties of Europe in the past. The authoritarian movements of the early 20th century imposed the “Big Lie,” which was maintained through forced education and total control of the media and culture. Instead, more recent movements use the “Medium-Size Lie.” A term coined by the historian Timothy Snyder, the Medium-Size Lie refers to the use of social media and marketing to promote conspiracy theories (37-39). According to Applebaum, the Medium-Size Lie in Hungary was that the Jewish millionaire George Soros wanted to destroy Hungary by increasing migration. In Poland, the Medium-Size Lie was that the death of Polish president Lech Kaczyński, in a plane crash at Smolensk in 2010, was the result of a conspiracy, not an accident. Despite a lack of evidence, Applebaum explains, Lech’s brother Jarosław, who now is a leader of Law and Justice, has used the Smolensk conspiracy theory to generate support for Law and Justice. Finally, Applebaum describes her encounters with a respected Hungarian historian, Mária Schmidt, who has supported the Fidesz party’s attacks on George Soros, the European Union, and “nonexistent Muslim migrants” (47). Also, Schmidt has been strongly influenced by right-wing United States publishers like Breitbart. Applebaum interviewed Schmidt, and afterwards a heavily edited version of the transcript that was favorable to Schmidt and the government appeared on Schmidt’s blog.

Chapter 2 Analysis

The lynchpin of this chapter is Applebaum’s two stories about the Kurski brothers in Poland and Mária Schmidt in Hungary. Both focus on how those Applebaum would describe as clercs join authoritarian causes. Using these stories, Applebaum argues that these clercs are not motivated by an actual political viewpoint. Instead, they are motivated by “envy” and “the belief that that the ‘system’ is unfair” (29), as well as benefits like power or “funding and political support” (53).

A key point is that the motives of the clercs Applebaum highlights are murky. What is clear is that their rhetoric often attacks established institutions and ideas while “not offering anything better or different in its place” (51).

At the same time, the clercs draw on unproven or objectively false narratives. There is no evidence that anyone deliberately caused the plane crash that killed the Polish president Lech Kaczyński. Also, there have been very few Muslim migrants coming to Hungary. Yet, claims involving the plane crash and large numbers of Muslim migrants have been used to draw public support of authoritarian parties in Poland and Hungary, respectively. Applebaum argues that movements like Poland’s Law and Justice party and Hungary’s Fidesz party both depend on the Medium-Size Lies. These Medium-Size Lies are factually untrue claims that are nonetheless spread by clercs in media.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text