Linda Robinson — Women in Power: Fighting for Democracy in an Age of Authoritarianism - with Tamara Wittes

Around the world, antidemocratic forces are taking aim at women leaders. Misogynistic authoritarianism has entered the mainstream, seeking to reverse decades of progress. Weaponized digital technologies have unleashed sexualized smears and violent threats. There is a deep connection between attacks on women and attacks on democracy—and female leaders can show us how to fight back.Linda Robinson—an award-winning journalist and foreign policy expert—tells the powerful stories of the women on the frontlines of the battle between democracy and authoritarianism. Despite age-old obstacles and virulent new dangers, these remarkable leaders have strengthened their countries, expanded gender equality, and promoted policies that benefit all. Tsai Ing-wen crafted a strategy to defend Taiwan from Chinese aggression while advancing social reforms. Estonia’s Kaja Kallas and Moldova’s Maia Sandu fought Russian hybrid warfare by pursuing European integration. Balkan leaders Vjosa Osmani and Nataša Pirc Musar bolstered their democracies against Serbian and Russian destabilization. Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados became a global champion for climate justice, rising above sexist attacks to achieve international financial reforms. Robinson distills the hard-won lessons of these and other recent leaders—including New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Finland’s Sanna Marin, and Sigrid Kaag of the Netherlands—providing a roadmap for countries facing existential threats. Timely and vivid, this book spotlights women’s leadership amid the global crisis of democracy.Linda Robinson is senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. She was previously director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation. A former foreign correspondent, Robinson is the author of three acclaimed and best-selling books about America's "long wars.Robinson is in conversation with Tamara Cofman Wittes, who became the fourth president of NDI in 2024. Before joining the Institute, she served as Director of Foreign Assistance in the U.S Department of State. Previously, she led the Russia sanctions effort for the State Department's sanctions coordination office. Dr. Wittes also served in the State Department from 2009 - 2012 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, coordinating U.S. policy on democracy and human rights in the Middle East during the Arab uprisings. Dr. Wittes spent nearly twenty years as a foreign policy scholar at the Brookings Institution, including as director of its Center for Middle East Policy. She is a founder of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security, and served on the board of the National Democratic Institute from 2014 - 2022. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Women in International Security. A native of Michigan, Dr. Wittes lives in Washington, D.C., where she tends a robust pollinator garden..PURCHASE BOOK:https://politics-prose.com/book/9780231221740?ic_referral=t1YDNC6QCU4H-6y_TTjoKLASwPJVwot9897PpNwyYmcwM3WxnyDfmUJvsW4Y2L21NTuF7QnM1E3s-1hhNhJg6n53o3xTXIRDmkp6JGh2roRd4GUcB_mf7Yqv-Ot84p3fxfvnmgA