Decoding Autocracy: Democratic Erosion and the Rise of Hybrid Regimes

Modern-day authoritarianism no longer looks like the authoritarianism of old. If you look hard enough, you might think you're seeing a functioning, if embattled, democracy. But in fact democracy has eroded, leaving in its place what are often called "hybrid" regimes: they borrow from democracy and contain elements of the democratic systems they seek to disrupt and subsume, whether elections and opposition parties or an independent press. Yet what remains of these democratic institutions often lacks influence or power, which is held by a central authority intent on unitary control.

This evening will feature a rare Berlin appearance by one of the premier chroniclers of this phenomenon, Andrew Marantz of The New Yorker, who has written about democratic backsliding in Hungary and the similarities with the second term of Donald Trump in the U.S. In conversation with Joshua Yaffa, his colleague at The New Yorker and the writer-in-residence at Bard College Berlin, Marantz will touch on the main attributes of these systems, and note where and how they have cropped up across the West in recent years—with Trump's America the most pressing case study of the current moment.

In which ways has American democracy already suffered, and where does it remain healthy and vital? What are the moments or markers that societies can seize to restore, revitalize, or even rebuild stronger democracies both within and across borders? This evening will speak to the critical lessons from recent political history, as publics on both sides of the Atlantic face increasing threats to democracy.

In cooperation with Heinrich Böll Foundation.

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Andrew Marantz is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he has worked since 2011. He is the author of Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation, which was published in 2019 and was named a best book of the year by the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and many other publications. His work has also appeared in Harper’s, New York, Mother Jones, the New York Times, among other places. A contributor to The New Yorker Radio Hour, he has spoken at TED and has been interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and many other outlets.

Joshua Yaffa is the inaugural Writer in Residence at Bard College Berlin. He is a contributing writer at The New Yorker and the author of Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia, which won the Orwell Prize in 2021.

For more information, e-mail [email protected].

Time: 7:00 pm CET/GMT+1

Location: Publix (Hermannstraße 90, 12051 Berlin, Germany)

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