Anne Applebaum: Twilight of Democracy; The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends
A very useful and characteristically elegantly written book (well, lengthy essay really) which gives a good if depressing overview of the state of liberal democracy in Europe - but with the mildly optimistic ending.
The first chapter - a description of a party she and her husband held in their country house in Poland to mark the Millennium - is the occasion for her to look back at how many of the views of the remarkably wide-ranging guest list have now radically changed and how previously close friends would now/are no longer be on speaking terms as the idealistic glow of the falling of the wall and the ‘end of history’ with the final and ultimate triumph of liberal democracy splintered and nationalistic views rose and developed again.
The next chapter deals with Hungary and Poland and if you have kept up to date with current affairs in recent years then there will be few surprises in this chapter - indeed there are not really any in the book as a whole - it is more a reflection of the state of play now in a range of countries.
The next chapter on the UK (focusing obviously on Brexit) has some illuminating comments about Johnson and she does manage to put the whole debate into a slightly wider European context as well as drawing attention to the poisonous malignancy of the sentimental rose-coloured view of UK history in general (and WWII in particular) and the crucial role these sentimental myths of nostalgia played in the debate.
The subsequent chapter on Spain I found the most informative as I had, possibly inexcusably, not been as aware of the influence of the Nationalistic Right there as I should have been but it does show how it is part of a larger European-wide movement/set of beliefs
The chapter on the USA is perceptive and she has some interesting remarks about Laura Ingraham. as with many she references, looking at where they are now and comparing to where they started in terms of their political beliefs is one of the most interesting aspects of this book.
But standing back from the book after having read it all I took away some general points/themes which, while initially referenced with respect to only individuals/groups/countries, nevertheless had a wider pan-European connection.
One of these was the fact that many people are disturbed by the idea of debate and discussion as it necessarily is questioning and uncertain and so when groups or individuals offer certainty, that is enormously appealing. This was intially mentioned re the USA but \i think that applies to many countries/states/ideologies. And this is not, I think necessarily a sign of a limited education (although that does play a not insignificant part) as there is something very appealing, at a high intellectual level, about beliefs and ideologies that are complete belief systems and have an intellectual coherence about them. I know that when I much much younger and was quite remarkably right-wing/Libertarian, (my 20’s, says he in a worriedly self-justifying tone!) I found this completeness very appealing. But then I grew up.
The other common aspect that comes across is the idea of ‘breaking’ conventional groupings/assumptions, rejecting the traditional experts and wanting to start anew (Cummings wanting ‘freaks and weirdos’ to be the new mandarins). I think as well this idea of ‘breaking the old mould’ was/is(?) an aspect of the tech world and start-ups. Am sure that at least one leader (Zombie Zuckerberg? Peter Thiel? Others?) made exactly this sort of point. But while rejecting the old guard ‘experts, a new breed of superior leaders are the result. This was the idea behind Peter Thiel’s independent island state I believe.
But at the end though, there is a small glow of optimism - not because ‘these things will pass’ but because there is always the opportunity that they may. the final paragraphs in the book provide touchingly powerful end.
