Moisés Naím’s book titled The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats are Reinventing Politics in the 21st Century, examines the way autocratic leaders use democratic means to pursue their autocratic agendas. This quest for absolute power pushes a new breed of power seekers who draw inspiration from past autocrats. The author has labelled such leaders as “revanchists.” He argues that “wherever it develops, whether in Bolivia or North Carolina, in Britain or the Philippines, it relies on a compact core of strategies to weaken the foundations of democracy and cement its malignant dominance” (p. 7).
The book comprises eleven chapters and is divided into two major themes.
According to the author, the framework of the book is structured around ‘3Ps’: (i) Populism, in which leaders exploit divisions among people and use tricks to control and divide societies; (ii) Polarization, which means people align with various identities, regions, ages, religions and genders; and (iii) Post-truth, which explains the disappearance of shared objective standards for truth. The author expounds that “3P power is a malign form of power, incompatible with the democratic values at the centre of any free society.” He labels those who deploy 3P strategy as “3P autocrats.” These autocrats are political leaders who gain power through a reasonably democratic means and then set out to dismantle the checks on executive power.
In the first major theme of the book, the author identifies common features of 3P autocrats and sheds light on common tools used by them, which include violence, money, technology, ideology, moral suasion, spying and propaganda for furtherance of their interests. Moisés underlines that “the same kinds of strategies arise again and again in places and cultures as disparate as Italy and Bolivia, India and Hungary, the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and the sweltering jungles of Mindanao, the Philippines. Scratch the surface and you see common themes and threads in the politics of such disparate places, always used to the same end: to coax a world hostile to absolute power into making room for autocracy” (p. 22-23).
The author exposes 3P autocrats and posits that in order to avoid accountability, the leaders cultivate a personal bond with their followers. He notes that today’s political cults, aligned with entertainment values, blur the lines between politics and fandom. This is a major strategy to target democratic values and laws. He underlines that “Far from being in contradiction, stealth and spectacle work together to deliver the revenge of power” (p. 47).
The author states that autocrats use psychological and communication techniques in the form of anti-politics. Resultantly, people do not trust politicians or the ways politics is done and reject it completely. This rejection weakens the ability of traditional elites to govern effectively and opens the door for new leaders, potentially autocrats to consolidate power. The author emphasises that “long-standing leaders like India’s Narendra Modi and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu have managed to continually win elections by positioning themselves as vehicles for the anti-politics sentiments boiling in their respective countries” (p. 141).
According to the author, after coming into power, 3P autocrats weaken the system by devising a technique called ‘power after truth’ in which they exploit the characteristics of today’s information management through radical openness. He argues that autocrats overwhelm people with a relentless barrage of information and machine-aided targeting, tailoring messages to exploit recipients and achieve their autocratic agenda and political objectives.
Moisés, while criticizing the revanchist Hindu autocrats, points out that “in a country where political Hinduism is strong and cows literally sacred, allegations of beef-eating shared online marred the election prospects of dozens of politicians. Much—though by no means all—of the disinformation appeared to be generated by an aggressive campaign conducted by the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP to mobilize voters around their religious identity by painting the opposition, Congress Party, as pro-Muslim, pro-Pakistani, and insufficiently Hindu. It worked, with the BJP prime minister coasting to an unexpectedly comfortable landslide reelection” (p. 176).
The second theme covers two significant aspects of the book: (i) the challenges to democratic systems; and (ii) the global implications of political shifts and the impact of technology on the strategies of 3P autocrats. To explain democratic challenges, the author highlights technologies that are used to sustain these autocracies and condemns big tech companies that work closely with autocrats that wield their influence far and wide. The author argues that platforms like “Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, and others offered customers a digital barter in which the price of the transaction disappeared. ‘You let me know about yourself, and I will let you use my services for free’” (p.125).
Furthermore, the author analyses a complex relationship between technology, power and governance. For example, he points out that autocrats used the Covid-19 crisis to consolidate their grip on power by using personal data and surveillance of individuals. He explains that the pandemic amplified existing power dynamics by prompting the concerns about governmental overreach and privacy breaches.
In conclusion, the author provides a comprehensive analysis of the immediate threats to democracy worldwide and recommends five measures to overcome those concerns: (i) combating misinformation and upholding truth; (ii) confronting criminalised governments; (iii) defending against autocratic subversion; (iv) addressing systemic issues within democracies; and (v) countering illiberal narratives. He stresses that “winning the war against 3P autocrats will require the revolutionary courage and creativity that gave birth to modern representative democracy in the first place” (p. 263). Moisés emphasises democracy’s resilience and the imperative to persist in the fight against tyranny.
The author presents facts and information regarding autocrats in an engaging approach. He conducts an in-depth analysis of the tactics used by 3P autocrats. However, he expresses his concerns and opposition to the method used by 3P autocrats for fulfilment of their objectives. The book is very informative and offers valuable insights. Politicians, scholars of the social sciences and those interested in political realism, power dynamics and democratic frameworks can greatly benefit from it.
