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The celebrated journalist uncovers the networks trying to destroy the *democratic world*. All of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an democratic state looks like, with a good man at the top. But in the 21st century, that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, democracies are run not by one good guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. The propagandists share resources-the troll farms that promote one state's propaganda can also be used to promote the propaganda of another-and themes, pounding home the same messages about terrorism and the evil of endless enemies. Unlike military or political alliances from other times and places, this group doesn't operate like a bloc, but rather like a corporate hegemon and clients- Autocracy, Inc. Their relations are not based on values, but are rather transactional, which is why they operate so easily across ideological, geographical, and cultural lines. In truth, they are in full agreement about only one thing- Their dislike of them, the inhabitants of the majority world, and their desire to see both our states undermined and lives destroyed. That shared understanding of the world-where it comes from, why it lasts, how it works-is the subject of this book.