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The Age of The Strongman: How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy around the World Paperback – 2 Mar. 2023

by Gideon Rachman (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 401 ratings
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**AN ECONOMIST AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR**

'Essential and definitive' CATHERINE BELTON, author of PUTIN'S PEOPLE

We are in a new era.

From Trump, Putin and Bolsonaro to Erdogan, Xi and Modi, self-styled strongmen have become a central feature of global politics. At home, they claim to be standing up for ordinary people against 'globalist' elites; abroad, they posture as the embodiment of their nation. And everywhere they go, they encourage a cult of personality.

How and why did this new style of authoritarian leadership arrive? How likely is it to lead the world into war and economic collapse? And what liberal forces are in place, not only to keep these strongmen in check but to reverse the trend? The Age of the Strongman explores these essential questions and offers a bold new portrait of our world.

'TIMELY, LASER-SHARP... A MUST-READ' PETER FRANKOPAN

'FORCEFUL... A BOOK WHOSE SIGNIFICANCE IS ENHANCED BY UNPREDICTABLE EVENTS' MISHA GLENNY

'WIDE-RANGING AND ASTUTE' THE ECONOMIST

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  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage
  4. Publication date
    2 Mar. 2023
  5. Dimensions
    13 x 2 x 19.8 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1529113555
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1529113556
  8. See all details
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  1. Asian nationalism is driven by rising expectations; the West’s nationalism is driven by disappointed hopes.
    Highlighted by 124 Kindle readers
  2. For a strongman leader, the law is not something to be obeyed: it is a political weapon to be used against opponents.
    Highlighted by 111 Kindle readers
  3. When did the strongman tendency take hold? What are its main characteristics? And why did it happen?
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Essential reading... Recent events in eastern Europe and beyond make it all the more timely ― The Times, *Books of the Year*

Solidly constructed, engaging and factually sound... A penetrating distillationof the essential ingredients of the strongman ― Financial Times

Timing is everything. Gideon Rachman has got his spot on with The Age Of The Strongman ― Daily Mail

Timely...Rachman... has a journalist's eye for the telling quote combined with a sharp analysis of the factors that enabled them to achieve power and hold on to it ― Sunday Times

This is a brilliant, unsettling portrait of our era -- Rana Mitter, author of China’s Good War

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

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

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 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

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

About the Author

Gideon Rachman is the Chief Foreign Affairs columnist for the Financial Times. In 2016 he won the Orwell Prize for Journalism and was named Commentator of the Year at the European Press Prize awards. Previously he worked for The Economist for fifteen years, and has served as a foreign correspondent in Washington, Bangkok and Brussels.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; 1st edition (2 Mar. 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1529113555
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529113556
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 2 x 19.8 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 401 ratings

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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Endriady Abidin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great..
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 December 2024
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    I bought a used-acceptable one. But the book is still in very good condition. Thank you.
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    Endriady Abidin
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Great..

    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 December 2024
    I bought a used-acceptable one. But the book is still in very good condition. Thank you.
    Images in this review
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  • Gabriel Stein
    4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 January 2023
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    This is on the whole a good book. Rachman is a very good journalist, and he writes a very legible and entertaining way, whilst covering very serious issues. It is also a very good overview of a deeply worrying phenomenon. That being said, the book suffers from one or two minor weaknesses. First, there are some factual errors (e.g., John F. Kennedy was not the youngest president of the United States ever; he was the youngest person elected to the presidency). Second, when moving away from the more well-known examples of Strongmen, Rachman, somehow attempts to shoehorn everyone he dislikes into this category. That does him and the book a disservice. Of course, a book like this is often overtaken by events, and that is the case with a few of the Strongmen he covers. Nevertheless, this is a good and very interesting book.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Mr A J Webb
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very thought provoking book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2022
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    The Age of the Strongman is a very interesting book to read in 2022 when we have several existing strongmen, a would-be strongman in Johnson and the real possibility of a Trump return in 2024, or worse an intelligent replacement. Rachman’s examples of strongmen leaders are spread all over the world and different cultures as well as religions. He makes you think the beginning of the 21st century is heading fast towards the awfulness of the beginning of the last century: a revival of fascist isolationist and warlike thinking if not exactly a rerun of Fascism itself.
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very insightful
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 May 2022
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    Very interesting and well written
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Albert
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 September 2023
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    Good -but will probably read much better in 30 or so yrs time as a contemporaneous record of these strange times.
    Anyone agree?
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  • Roger Darlington
    5.0 out of 5 stars A concise but comprehensive review of autocrats around the world
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2022
    Rachman is the chief foreign affairs columnist for the British newspaper the “Financial Times”. He has written a well-researched, immensely informative, very readable and – at least for my liberal sensibilities – insightful and balanced review of the rise over the past two decades of a series of political figures whom he calls the strongmen but who – at least in countries with elections – could be called populist or nationalist leaders.

    Who are they? The main individuals profiled are Vladimir Putin of Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Xi Jinping of China, Narendra Modi of India, Viktor Orban of Hungary, Jaroslaw Kaczynski of Poland, Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, Donald Trump of the United States, Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico, and Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia.

    It is a genuinely worldwide spread, but Rachman acknowledges immediately that these strongman leaders are “part of a continuum”. At one end are unchallenged autocrats like Xi and MBS; then there are those who are subject some some kind of constraint such as Putin and Erdogan; and there are those who operate in democracies but subvert them as exemplified by Trump and Modi.

    What they have in common are the following behaviours: "the creation of a cult of personality, contempt for the rule of law, the claim to represent the real people against the elites, and a politics driven by fear and nationalism". They have little or no regard for the truth, they are contemptuous of all opposition, and they have psychotic belief in their own righteousness. As a result of their global power and influence, Rachman asserts: “We are now in the midst of the most sustained global assault on liberal democratic values since the 1930s”.

    Why have strongmen come to power in so many countries? Rachman sees economics as a major factor: “the dislocating effects of a period of rapid globalisation – including mass migration of people and industries – have increased the nostalgic appeal of a more stable, homogeneous and nation-centred past”. In many countries – especially in the developing world – there is a sense that “corruption has ensured that the gains of globalisation have gone overwhelmingly to a connected elite”.

    But it is not just about economics: “It is when economic grievances are linked to broader fears – such as immigration, crime of national decline – that strongman leaders really come into their own”. So how and when will the age of the strongman come to an end? Rachman looks at the efforts of liberal politicians – notably Angela Merkel in Germany, Emmanuel Macron in France and Joe Biden in the USA – and global leaders – especially George Soros – to provide an alternative agenda.

    Although he admits that "All efforts at historical periodisation are slightly artificial”, he opines that post-war politics have tended to follow three distinct eras, each lasting around three decades: the stability and growth of 1945-1975, the stagflation and neoliberalism of the next 30 years, and the age of populism and autocracy in which we now find ourselves. If this model has validity, then the age of the strongman – which he sees beginning with Putin in 2000 - should come to end around 2030.

    Rachman is ultimately optimistic: “strongman rule is an inherently flawed and unstable form of government. It will ultimately collapse in China and most other places where it is tried. But there may be a lot of turmoil and suffering before the Age of the Strongman is finally consigned to history”. Broadly speaking, I share this analysis but I suspect that China will the last to embrace liberalism and it will not be in this decade.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • not Mark Twain
    4.0 out of 5 stars An instant guide.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 June 2022
    Gideon Rachman has written a very readable and useful account, much of which is guided by his direct experiences. I call it a 'guide' because a book of this length can only include a certain amount of detail and much must be left out. For example, in the case of Putin, the author says "The West's response to Putin's misdeeds was to slap economic sanctions on Russia." This has to be the author's description of the ' Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012', a.k.a. the Magnitsky Act. This was a ground-breaking piece of bipartisan US legislation that is a huge step in recognising the importance of human rights. Putin hated it; yet when he demanded that Trump extradite its main principal to almost certain death, Trump very nearly acceded to the demand!

    Clearly then this cannot be regarded as a history book and although the author cites his references at the end, perhaps a bibliography would also be of value?

    For those looking for an in-depth portrait of a 'Strong Man', I highly recommend 'Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump' a film discussion, including that of the human motivation in supporting such creatures.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Cheung Yuk Ming
    2.0 out of 5 stars Causes of trend of political strongmanship
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 July 2022
    The world-wide trend of rising political strongmanship is a response to or result of failure of mob politics, anarchism or gangsterism in the name of democracy. No political system, democracy cum free-marketism included, is appropriate to all era, nations or historical context of particular countries. Don't be superstitious with democracy.
    4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • CONSUELO
    5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding summary of the era of the strongman
    Reviewed in Mexico on 28 December 2022
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    Gideon Rachman built on his long experience at the FT to portray the era of the Strongman, its rise and eventual (hopefully) decline. The similarities are many between populists leaders and countries which helps us to understand what drives their actions and how will they pass on in history.
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  • Mark Sell
    5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable warning
    Reviewed in the United States on 12 July 2022
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    A bracing, essential, deeply-informed read. Rachman takes us on a Cook’s Tour of strongman politics from the US to Russia, China, India, Hungary, Poland, Brazil, Mexico, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Israel, and more, with a clear journalist’s eye for the distinctions therein. I finished the book hungry for a deeper sense of any commonality of its causes and cures. At the same time, the author left little doubt that we are in the midst of an age that may take decades to play out. The longer it takes, the more likely it is that our planet is cooked. He poses at the end the troubling possibility that the Biden period may be a delicate interlude. Europeans are clearly sensing this in Putin’s war on Ukraine and Russian and Chinese perceptions of American decadence and decline, awaiting a Trumpian restoration in 2022 and 2024. It is on each of us and our institutions to ensure a less dangerous outcome outcome. In sum, an necessary read.
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  • Syed A. Hassan
    5.0 out of 5 stars Book of amazing insights
    Reviewed in Canada on 23 April 2022
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    The author, Gideon Rachman, is a first-rate political commentator whose insights and judgments on the subject is the best one can find.
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  • Daniela P.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding read
    Reviewed in Germany on 17 June 2024
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    Highly recommended for everyone who is interested in geopolitics and the ongoing shifts in the world order.
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  • MG00000000
    3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read
    Reviewed in France on 22 June 2023
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    Insightful on the background and rises to power of the various leaders. I was troubled by the unifying theory and got the impression that the definition of strongman was being expanded to fit the evidence. Mr Johnson is a very bad man and an even worse pm but to put him in the same bracket as, say, duterte is stretching things too far.
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