Andreas Kluth, Columnist

History's Whispered Warnings on Authoritarianism vs. Democracy

From the US to Hungary, Israel, Brazil and beyond, the struggle is worldwide and never ends. A look back offers hints of what’s ahead.

April 5, 2023 at 4:00 AM UTC

By Andreas Kluth

Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering US diplomacy, national security and geopolitics. Previously, he was editor-in-chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist.

The Reichstag, 1945.
Photographer: Hulton Archive via Getty Images

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Authoritarianism is on the rise worldwide. But the democratic resistance is also growing. Which side will win in this tug-of-war, and what are the stakes?

I can’t think of a better place to ponder these questions than central Berlin, nor a better sparring partner to do it with than Timothy O’Brien, Bloomberg Opinion’s senior executive editor. The other day, we walked from the Reichstag — where the Weimar Republic was born and burned — to the site of the bunker where Adolf Hitler killed himself, and the adjoining Holocaust Memorial. You can listen to our conversation in our Crash Course podcast.