What Can Democracies Learn From Dictators?

EPISODE SUMMARY This week we ask: Can struggling democracies learn anything useful from well performing dictatorships? EPISODE NOTES This week we welcome a special guest who has direct experience at the sharp end of politics. Charles Dunst is a former foreign correspondent who has reported from many countries around the world, who is now deputy director of research & analytics at The Asia Group – a business advisory firm based in Washington, D.C. – and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an independent and bipartisan DC-based think tank. Charles has just published a new book, Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman, in which he argues that democracies that are struggling with low public trust and poor performance might have a thing or two to learn about effective governance from the world’s more successful autocracies – most notably Singapore, but also others. Mentioned in this episode: Chales Dunst. Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman Date of episode recording: 2023-05-04 Duration: 33:02 Language of episode: English (UK)

 Presenter: Professor Alan Renwick Guests: Charles Dunst Producer: Eleanor Kingwell-Banham