In the 20th century most autocrats were brutal dictators whose main goal was to control a domestic population. But in the 21st century autocracy has become much more sophisticated and ambitious in its scope. States like Russia have developed sophisticated cross-border networks of kleptocratic financial structures, innovative security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship aim to do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. Propagandists from one country can promote and finance extremists and propaganda in another — pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of the West.

In September 2024 Anne Applebaum came to Intelligence Squared to provide a radical new framework for understanding autocracy in the 21st century. Applebaum argued that autocracies today are best viewed like an agglomeration of companies or what she calls Autocracy, Inc. Their relations are not based on values, but are rather transactional, which is why they operate so easily across ideological, geographical, and cultural lines. In truth, they are in full agreement about only one thing: The destruction of democratic challengers.

Applebaum was in conversation with BBC broadcaster Jonny Dymond to discuss how to understand and thwart this new evolved form of autocracy.