AUTOCRACY, INC

All of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an autocratic state looks like with a bad man at the top But in the 21st century that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality Nowadays autocracies are run not by one bad guy but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures 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 do business with corrupt state controlled companies in another The police in one country can arm equip and train the police in another