In Autocracy, Inc., Applebaum analyzes the network of autocratic regimes that maintain power through kleptocracy, intimidation, and disinformation. However, she also highlights a troubling dimension: The role of democratic nations in sustaining these autocratic networks. Applebaum critiques how, in their pursuit of profit, stability, or geopolitical advantage, democratic countries have become enablers of the very systems that erode global democratic values.

Applebaum argues that the complicity of democracies in perpetuating autocracies is often overlooked. For example, while Americans may denounce corruption in Russia, Ukraine, or other post-Soviet states, they fail to recognize “the role their fellow citizens have played, or are still playing, in enabling it” (39). This ignorance stems from the false belief that autocratic corruption is distant, confined to “faraway countries or on exotic tropical islands” (40), when in reality, these practices infiltrate democratic institutions as well.

One key idea Applebaum explores is how economic engagement with autocratic states has frequently led to unfavorable consequences. Chapter 1 recounts the development of trade between the Soviet Union and Western Europe. Leaders such as German councilor Willy Brandt and, later, liberal thinkers like Francis Fukuyama, held an optimistic belief that economic globalization would inevitably lead to democratic political reforms in countries like Russia and China.