Why Authoritarians Manufacture Crisis

Democracies don’t die because people stop caring. They die because people get scared — and they let the wrong person promise them safety.

By Trygve Olson

This is the fourth in an eight-part series on the lessons I’ve learned confronting autocrats over the past twenty-five years. From post-Soviet capitals to American battlegrounds, I’ve seen how authoritarianism grows — and how democracy survives.

Autocrats need fear like a fire needs oxygen.

I’ve worked in countries where regimes manufacture…