Is democracy dying? Dictatorships are only getting more sophisticated while democracies are on the ropes. Some think we are at the beginning of a new and terrifying political age.
Trump promises future with no voting
Despotic: Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists, says Anne Applebaum in her new book. Glossary
Democracy - A system of government based on the idea of rule by the people.
Soviet Union - Officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). A powerful group of communist republics, the biggest being Russia, that existed from 1922 to 1991.
Francis Fukuyama - An American political scientist best known for his argument that the whole world will one day embrace liberal democracy.
Autocracy - A society ruled by a single person or group with absolute power.
Sophisticated - For example, artificial intelligence can now be programmed to teach itself - suggesting robots could develop many of the qualities that make us human.
Propaganda - Information, which may be biased or misleading, used to promote a certain viewpoint.
Benjamin Constant - A Swiss political thinker and republican, born in 1767.