When we believe that nothing new can happen, that nothing we do will change what comes next, we become vulnerable to those who promise clarity, order, and safety.
Once freedom is lost, what remains isn't order—it’s imposed certainty. Oligarchs reject policy that might lead to a better future, instead peddling nostalgia and the fantasy of an eternally innocent nation constantly victimized by outside forces.
To sustain this fantasy, history and fact must be destroyed. Big, boldfaced, grotesque lies maul logic, misrepresent the present, and demand belief in a conspiracy. With truth dismissed, only cynicism and spectacle remain.
Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. When we lose track of the difference between "it is true" and "it feels right," we are not free.
Articles & Essays
Substack, October 2024
Professor Snyder explores how economic collapse and inequality fuel authoritarianism. When institutions fail and elections lose meaning, poverty becomes a tool of control, but truth-telling can persist even under conditions of deprivation.
Boston Globe, November 2020
Following the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, Professor Snyder warns that sustained disinformation about election fraud undermines democratic institutions and public trust. He draws historical parallels to fascist mythmaking and explains how the “Big Lie” can become a permanent feature of politics.
New York Times, May 2022
Professor Snyder shows that Russia’s political system meets the defining criteria of fascism—cult of personality, mythic nationalism, and war of destruction—and calls for acknowledgment of this reality to resist authoritarianism globally.
Substack, January 2023
Professor Snyder reflects on how honest historical debate—especially about civil rights—is essential to upholding democracy. He warns against top-down control of public truth, advocates for pluralistic memory as a civic responsibility.
New York Times, January 2021
Following the January 6 Capitol insurrection, Professor Snyder connects the event to the breakdown of factual discourse and warns that abandoning truth opens the door to authoritarian myths and populist violence.
Videos
Authoritarian regimes exploit societal vulnerabilities—predictable citizens, degraded media, and manufactured crises. Professor Snyder explains how resisting tyranny requires citizens to refuse anticipatory obedience, defend institutions, uphold ethics, and engage in real-world civic life. Sustaining factual discourse and social trust is essential to protect democracy.
(April 2023 - 10 mins)
Professor Snyder examines how digital platforms, disinformation, and algorithmic manipulation contribute to a new form of authoritarian influence he terms “cyberfascism” and shows how online environments employ fascist rhetorical strategies that overwhelm reason with emotion and distort public discourse.
(May 2023 - 19 mins)
Professor Snyder describes Russia’s use of bot armies, social media campaigns, and the strategically timed release of hacked emails to divide citizens during the 2016 election—a major cyber victory that helped secure Donald Trump’s election.
(May 2023 - 14 mins)
Professor Snyder defines oligarchy as rule by a wealthy elite that undermines democratic institutions. He explores how crises and historical myths are used to justify concentration of power, drawing parallels between America’s and Russia’s degraded media environments and extreme social inequality.
(May 2023 - 16 mins)
Professor Snyder explores how domestic failures—media distortion, civic disengagement, and inequality—enabled foreign cyber influence in 2016, arguing that America’s own weaknesses made it vulnerable to manipulation. He highlights how the Russian attack succeeded by exploiting systemic flaws in democracy and public discourse.
(May 2023 - 23 mins)
Professor Snyder argues that the internet fuels authoritarianism by replacing facts with emotional manipulation, algorithmic distortion, and enabling foreign powers to exploit domestic fractures. Reclaiming factuality and returning to “corporeal politics”—active engagement in the real world—is essential to sustaining a healthy, shared civic space.
(April 2018 - 43 mins)
Books
After the Soviet Union’s collapse, authoritarianism reemerged in Russia, and its drive to undermine Western institutions, states, and values resonated in the West. This book shows how nationalist mythmaking, ideological manipulation, and digital disinformation weaken democratic institutions and how belief in inevitable liberal-democratic progress lulled people into complacency, weakening responses to rising authoritarian threats.
(Published 2018)
In December 2019, Timothy Snyder fell gravely ill and was hospitalized. During this time, he reflected on the fragility of health. In this impassioned critique of America’s pandemic response and its failure to recognize health as a human right, he asserts that without health, all other rights and freedoms are meaningless.
(Published 2020)