In this episode of Dictators v Democrats: Why We Fight, we’re joined by Professor Mark Galeotti, one of the world’s leading experts on modern Russia, for a sweeping conversation on authoritarianism, democracy, and the future of Putin’s regime.
We explore:
- Why democracy failed in post-Soviet Russia
- The real legacy of Boris Yeltsin and the 1990s
- How Putin rebuilt an authoritarian state with elite loyalty and public apathy
- Russia’s strategic culture and the "first punch" doctrine
- What comes after Putin—and how the war in Ukraine might end
- Grey zone warfare, gangsters as proxies, and Russia’s criminal statecraft
- How democracies can resist authoritarian influence without sacrificing their values
- Why Russian disinformation works—and why fact-checking alone won’t stop it
Key Takeaways:
- “You can have rule of law without democracy, but not democracy without rule of law.”
- Putin's Russia is a hybrid of medieval court politics and 21st-century bureaucracy.
- The West enabled Russian authoritarianism by endorsing rigged elections and prioritising short-term stability over long-term democratic development.
- Today’s global struggle isn’t just military—it’s narrative, emotional, and psychological.
- Disinformation thrives where trust in institutions has already collapsed.
- Fixing democracy’s reputation means fixing democratic systems themselves.
- Russia’s alliances with Iran, China, and others are transactional—not ideological.
- “Democracy is a frustrating, unstable beast—but it can do amazing things if we fight for it.”
Mark Galeotti’s Latest Book:
Homo Criminalis — out now in the UK and Netherlands. U.S. release coming soon.
Listen to Mark’s podcast: In Moscow’s Shadows
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