The age of the strongman
What defines a strongman, and what varieties of this curious species exist? Are there any strongwomen? And when did the age of strongmen really begin?
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The world is currently focused on one strongman: Putin. Yet strongmen are threatening democracies across the globe. Mark Leonard is joined this week by chief foreign policy commentator at the Financial Times, Gideon Rachman, to dissect the latter’s recently published book “The Age of the Strongman”. They discuss such questions as what defines a strongman, and what varieties of this curious species exist? Are there any strongwomen? And when did the age of strongmen really begin?
This podcast was recorded on 28 April 2022.
Further reading:
- The Age of the Strongman by Gideon Rachman
- The rise and risks of “The Age of the Strongman”
- “The Age of The Strongman by Gideon Rachman review – a rogues gallery of autocrats” by Simon Tisdall
Bookshelf
- Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- America Second by Isaac Stone Fish
