Anne Applebaum

It's unfolded in many other countries. I could name Turkey. I could name India. You can point around the world and find a large number of them. Nowadays, most democracies fail through these kinds of tactics and not through coup d'etat. We have our imagination of a coup or regime change is that There are tanks and violence and, you know, somebody shoots up the chandelier in the presidential palace.

It's unfolded in many other countries. I could name Turkey. I could name India. You can point around the world and find a large number of them. Nowadays, most democracies fail through these kinds of tactics and not through coup d'etat. We have our imagination of a coup or regime change is that There are tanks and violence and, you know, somebody shoots up the chandelier in the presidential palace.

Actually, nowadays, that's not how democracies fail. They fail through attacks on institutions coming from within.

Actually, nowadays, that's not how democracies fail. They fail through attacks on institutions coming from within.

Actually, nowadays, that's not how democracies fail. They fail through attacks on institutions coming from within.

So in Poland, we had exactly this kind of attempted illiberal takeover of the state. And it was partly successful. The destruction of the civil service happened. The politicization of a part of the judiciary happened. The ruling party was never able to completely undermine or destroy the opposition. And also, one of the effects of it being in power for eight years was that it became very corrupt.

So in Poland, we had exactly this kind of attempted illiberal takeover of the state. And it was partly successful. The destruction of the civil service happened. The politicization of a part of the judiciary happened. The ruling party was never able to completely undermine or destroy the opposition. And also, one of the effects of it being in power for eight years was that it became very corrupt.

So in Poland, we had exactly this kind of attempted illiberal takeover of the state. And it was partly successful. The destruction of the civil service happened. The politicization of a part of the judiciary happened. The ruling party was never able to completely undermine or destroy the opposition. And also, one of the effects of it being in power for eight years was that it became very corrupt.

So one of the things that happens when you eliminate journalists and you know, corrupt the judges and make it hard for people to understand what the government is doing is that people naturally start trying to steal. And that happened in Poland on a large scale, and people began to see it.

So one of the things that happens when you eliminate journalists and you know, corrupt the judges and make it hard for people to understand what the government is doing is that people naturally start trying to steal. And that happened in Poland on a large scale, and people began to see it.

So one of the things that happens when you eliminate journalists and you know, corrupt the judges and make it hard for people to understand what the government is doing is that people naturally start trying to steal. And that happened in Poland on a large scale, and people began to see it.

And that offered an opening, if you will, for the political opposition, which had been in a kind of disarray after the After the initial victory of this, it's called the Law and Justice Party. And they took advantage of anger about corruption and anger about economic failure and began to build a new coalition. I think maybe it's a couple of things worth saying about Poland. One is that.

And that offered an opening, if you will, for the political opposition, which had been in a kind of disarray after the After the initial victory of this, it's called the Law and Justice Party. And they took advantage of anger about corruption and anger about economic failure and began to build a new coalition. I think maybe it's a couple of things worth saying about Poland. One is that.

And that offered an opening, if you will, for the political opposition, which had been in a kind of disarray after the After the initial victory of this, it's called the Law and Justice Party. And they took advantage of anger about corruption and anger about economic failure and began to build a new coalition. I think maybe it's a couple of things worth saying about Poland. One is that.

the autocratic ruling party was defeated at an election because of a broad coalition. There were three parties, center-left, center-right, and liberal. And it also won because of a huge effort to mobilize. They mobilized enormous numbers of young people to vote, women.

the autocratic ruling party was defeated at an election because of a broad coalition. There were three parties, center-left, center-right, and liberal. And it also won because of a huge effort to mobilize. They mobilized enormous numbers of young people to vote, women.

the autocratic ruling party was defeated at an election because of a broad coalition. There were three parties, center-left, center-right, and liberal. And it also won because of a huge effort to mobilize. They mobilized enormous numbers of young people to vote, women.

I mean, there's another aspect, which is that Poland had the previous party passed an unusually harsh abortion law, abortion having been illegal in Poland for a long time. But One that meant that even women who had medical issues with birth were forced to give birth and some of them began to die. So that became a major political issue as well. but they were able to mobilize people.

I mean, there's another aspect, which is that Poland had the previous party passed an unusually harsh abortion law, abortion having been illegal in Poland for a long time. But One that meant that even women who had medical issues with birth were forced to give birth and some of them began to die. So that became a major political issue as well. but they were able to mobilize people.

I mean, there's another aspect, which is that Poland had the previous party passed an unusually harsh abortion law, abortion having been illegal in Poland for a long time. But One that meant that even women who had medical issues with birth were forced to give birth and some of them began to die. So that became a major political issue as well. but they were able to mobilize people.