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The Age of the Strongman by Gideon Rachman: book review


The Age of the Strongman: How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy around the World by Gideon Rachman (2021) is an account of recent and current global authoritarian leaders since about the year 2000.

 

These leaders – all men – include (in chapter order): Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Türkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, United Kingdom’s Boris Johnson, America’s Donald Trump, Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, and Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed. 

 

What do these leaders have in common? ‘These leaders are nationalists and cultural conservatives, with little tolerance for minorities, dissent or the interests of foreigners,’ and who ‘encourage a cult of personality,’ says Gideon Rachman. 

 

Rachman discusses the emergence and rise of the strongman since the new millennium, in terms of how and why – stemming from ‘a revolt against the liberal consensus’ and the economic, social, technological and geopolitical crises in liberalism.’

 

Rachman delves into each leader’s complex character and personal political motivations. He concludes with the question: is there anyone in the world who can keep these strongmen in check and reverse the trend?  He finishes with an epilogue on the first year of America’s President Joe Biden in the Age of the Strongman. 

 

Is there room for the ‘cult of personality in global politics?’ Gideon Rachman’s answer is that ‘durable political systems ultimately rely on institutions, not individuals.’

 

This is an easy-to-digest political history narrative from two perspectives: 1) individual and local, and 2) collective and global. It is also written from the perspective of a journalist who has met most of these leaders face-to-face, and has closely followed the rising trend of the strongman in politics. 







 

 

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS  is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author  of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce  (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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