Ivan Krastev on Anne Applebaum

Or more precisely: on her latest book, which he reviews here.

I’m a bit surprised by the main argument, which he expresses as follows:

But the book’s subtitle “The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism” is rather misleading. Unlike communism, authoritarianism is not an ideology. Populists, unlike communists or fascists, do not dream about a “new man” who will be born of their revolution. What drives intellectual supporters of Trump and Hungary’s Viktor Orban is not some new vision of society but a pathological hate toward liberalism.

I can well understand losing faith in liberalism, if it didn’t deliver the goods you imagined it would, or it it led to places you find repugnant. But I can’t quite grasp why you would hate it, especially the very moderate, even conservative, kind of liberalism to be found in Eastern Europe. The article makes clear that this resentment arises from ex-communists managing to benefit from the post-Cold War arrangements.

Perhaps this speaks to a desire many have for vengeance upon those they saw as collaborators. It’s difficult to see how that can be resolved, if winning elections is not enough to satiate it.

Two more quotes:

• What we see in countries like Poland and the United States is that a democracy of citizens has been replaced by a democracy of fans. While for a liberal citizen the readiness to point out and correct the mistakes of your own party is a sign of the highest loyalty, the loyalty of fans is zealous, unthinking, and unswerving.

• The major challenge Western liberalism is facing today [is] how to uphold Western universalism while Western power is in decline.

I’m pretty sure the latter is not possible. Far better to focus on mitigating the decline, by designing the political and cultural institutions of the future.