Ben Rhodes Books

A disturbing realization sits at the center of Rhodes’s journey: many of the pathologies Americans condemn abroad have taken root in the United States as well. Polarization, political tribalism, contempt for institutions, conspiracy thinking, and media ecosystems built on outrage are not foreign abn...

From After the Fall

Authoritarianism often arrives wearing the clothes of legality. In Hungary, Rhodes finds a powerful case study in Viktor Orbán’s methodical dismantling of democratic norms without abolishing elections outright. Orbán did not need tanks in the streets to weaken democracy; he used constitutional chang...

From After the Fall

One of the bleakest insights in After the Fall is that modern authoritarianism does not always depend on making people believe a single lie; it often succeeds by making people believe nothing at all. In Rhodes’s encounters with Russia and its political culture, he examines how Vladimir Putin’s syste...

From After the Fall

Rhodes’s exploration of China highlights a challenge liberal democracies often underestimate: authoritarianism can present itself not as chaos or repression alone, but as competence. China’s rise complicates the old assumption that economic modernization naturally leads to political liberalization. ...

From After the Fall

Few places illustrate democratic fragility more vividly than Hong Kong. Rhodes portrays the city as a front line where young activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens confronted the immense power of the Chinese state in defense of civil liberties and political autonomy. Their struggle exposes a ...

From After the Fall

Myanmar reminds Rhodes that democratic transition is not the same as democratic consolidation. For a time, the country appeared to embody hopeful change: military rule seemed to be loosening, elections offered new possibility, and outside observers wanted to believe that a freer future was unfolding...

From After the Fall