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Exploring contemporary and historical contexts of power and politics, Anne has become one of the leading authors on international democracy, authoritarianism, and the way societies move from one to the other. Anne's award-winning books, including The Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism and Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, offer urgent reflections on the global rise of illiberalism and the intricate transnational networks that sustain modern autocratic regimes.
Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, award-winning journalist, and one of the most influential chroniclers of authoritarianism, disinformation, and political transformation in the 21st century. A writer for The Atlantic and a Senior Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Anne draws on decades of on-the-ground reporting and historical research to explore the forces reshaping democracies across the globe.
A former columnist and editorial board member at The Washington Post, Anne also served as Deputy Editor of The Spectator, and as Political Editor of the Evening Standard. Her career as a foreign correspondent for The Economist and The Independent began in the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and she has since written extensively about the rise and fall of communism, the legacy of totalitarianism, and the erosion of democratic norms. She is the author of many acclaimed books that combine historical analysis with contemporary exploration. These include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gulag: A History, and Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine. Her books Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism and Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World both offer urgent reflections on the global rise of illiberalism and the complex transnational networks that sustain, and even exploit modern autocratic regimes.
With rare access to world leaders, dissidents, and civil society leaders, and an understanding of historical precedent, Anne offers invaluable perspectives on the disinformation age, the fragility of democratic institutions, and the moral and strategic choices facing the political West. From financial crises to armed conflict to populism, Anne considers the key figures, underlying themes and historical context of the events shaping the world.
A dual US-Polish citizen, Anne has studied in the UK and US. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy and the Renew Democracy Initiative. She has also contributed to publications including Foreign Affairs, The New York Review of Books, and The New Republic.
