The Making of an Autocrat: co-opt the military
In November, six Democratic lawmakers recorded a video directed at members of the US military and intelligence agencies. In it, they issued a blunt reminder:"The laws are clear: you can refuse illegal...
4 Jan 18min
The Making of an Autocrat: suppress the people
The list of people Donald Trump has punished or threatened to punish since returning to office is long. It includes the likes of James Comey, Letitia James, John Bolton, as well as members of the oppo...
4 Jan 15min
The Making of an Autocrat: beat the courts
In democratic systems, the courts are a vital check on a leader’s power. They have the ability to overturn laws and, in Donald Trump’s case, the executive orders he has relied on to achieve his goals....
28 Dec 202517min
The Making of an Autocrat: manufacture a crisis
Donald Trump has sounded the alarm, over and over again, that the United States is facing an “invasion” by dangerous gang members. He blames immigrants for the country’s economic problems and claims p...
28 Dec 202514min
The Making of an Autocrat: recruit an architect
Every autocrat needs a clan of loyalists, strategists, masterminds – these are the figures behind the scenes pulling the strings.They’re unelected and unaccountable, yet they wield a huge amount of po...
28 Dec 202516min
The Making of an Autocrat: hijack a party
We used to have a pretty clear idea of what an autocrat was. History is full of examples: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, along with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping today. The list goes on.So, ...
28 Dec 202517min
Coming soon: The Making of an Autocrat
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From captu...
22 Dec 20251min
Venezuela's plan to resist a US invasion
In the latest escalation of tensions between the US and Venezuela, the US President Donald Trump ordered a "complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela. His Venezuelan...
18 Dec 202524min
