Publishers Weekly
07/17/2023
This scattershot debut from Döpfner, CEO of Germany’s Axel Springer media conglomerate, argues that American and European trade with nondemocratic countries didn’t liberalize the latter, but instead made the former economically dependent on and politically subservient to dictatorships. He cites Germany’s 2011 decision to shutter its nuclear plants and import Russian natural gas for power, a policy that led to energy shortages and inflation when the Ukraine War cut off Russian gas supplies. Offshoring industries to China, Döpfner contends, has hollowed out Western economies and enabled China to push around businesses outside its borders, as when Mercedes-Benz, which relies on auto exports to China, bowed to negative press in Chinese media and apologized for quoting the Dalai Lama in a social media post. Döpfner’s account of fighting to free Axel Springer reporters imprisoned in Turkey and Iran drives home the stakes of the expanding influence of dictatorships. Unfortunately, his call for a Freedom Trade Alliance between democracies walled off from authoritarian nations by tariffs is sketchier, glossing over the inflationary effects of banning cheap Chinese manufactures and conceding that trade with tyrants in such products as oil and antibiotics would have to continue until alternative supply chains could be built. This makes an incisive moral case for a values-based trade policy, but the economic logic is weaker. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"The prolonged attempt to spread democracy through economic globalization has ended in abject failure. Far from becoming more democratic, China and Russia have doubled down on their different brands of dictatorship, while the populist backlash against free trade threatens the stability of the Western democracies themselves. The only solution, Mathias Döpfner argues in this remarkable and original polemic, is radical decoupling—replacing the World Trade Organization with a new world order of free trade between the democracies, raising even further the barriers to trade with regimes that don’t uphold the rule of law, human rights, and clean energy. Enlivened by the author’s own first-hand encounters with authoritarian regimes, this book is guaranteed to incense those who still hope to salvage what is left of the old Washington consensus."
—Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution
"With a long perspective and a strong commitment to Atlantic values, Mathias Döpfner has issued a powerful call for Western self-renewal as one element of important domestic discussions."
—Henry Kissinger, former U.S Secretary of State
"A bold proposal for the future, from one of the blue-flame thinkers of the West."
—Scott Galloway, professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business and bestselling author of The Four
"Whether democracy will prevail depends on how the West deals with China, Russia, and other rising autocracies. Mathias Döpfner’s proposal for a new Trade Alliance is the best idea so far."
—Bill Browder, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Red Notice and Freezing Order
"Mathias Döpfner is a man who thinks for himself. In our era of groupthink and cowardice, his voice is essential."
—Bari Weiss, founder and editor of the Free Press
"The best way to deal with autocrats like Putin—and a much more constructive strategy than unilateral decoupling."
—Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and global human rights activist
"Mixing memoir and polemic, Döpfner makes a compelling case that trade with authoritarian countries has weakened the democratic world. His proposal for a Freedom Trade Alliance sounds impractical today but may seem like common sense in a few years time."
—Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times
"The West is at a crossroads between dependence, derisking, and decoupling. Are any of these far-reaching enough to safeguard democracy? No. Mathias Döpfner proposes a new alliance that might stand a chance."
—Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman & CEO of Google
"Döpfner issues a sharp warning about the danger of appeasement and charts an alternative path forward...The author punctuates the book with accounts of his meetings with leaders such as Putin, Helmut Kohl, and German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. He presents a clear-minded, thought-provoking book, and he pulls no punches....the author focuses mostly on China, but he also offers plenty of insight on Russia and how the invasion of Ukraine altered the geopolitical landscape."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Mathias Döpfner is the rare CEO who grasps the dangers democratic nations court when they do business with authoritarian regimes. Having directly engaged dictators during a remarkable career in journalism and business, he understands that nothing less than our prosperity and freedoms are at stake as a result of growing economic entanglements between democracies and autocracies. In this clarion call to the free world, Döpfner lays out a roadmap for democracies to leverage trade and other tools to push back against the deeply disturbing worldwide attacks on freedom."
—Michael Abramowitz, president of Freedom House
Kirkus Reviews
2023-06-02
When high-minded rhetoric about trade meets dictators, the dictators always win.
The idea that trading with a country ruled by a dictator will lead toward democracy has always been flawed. Döpfner, CEO of the Berlin-based Axel Springer SE, a global media and tech company, notes that there is even a common German phrase for it: “wandel durch handel,” meaning “change through trade.” The main problem with this concept is that it does nothing but embolden the dictator. In this book, the author focuses mostly on China, but he also offers plenty of insight on Russia and how the invasion of Ukraine altered the geopolitical landscape. In fact, it was the willingness of Western companies and governments to continue trading with Russia after the takeover of Crimea that made Putin think that there would be no consequences for further aggression. Döpfner notes that the situation with China was even worse, with American and European companies rushing in when China joined the World Trade Organization, willfully ignoring the long catalog of human rights abuses and Xi Jinping’s authoritarian rule. By the time the real costs were realized, there was a high degree of enmeshment—although in the past few years, some companies have started to withdraw. Dictatorships often use the language of free trade while manipulating the rules for their own benefit, and for this reason, Döpfner argues strongly against the WTO, suggesting a new alliance based on the rule of law, human rights, and sustainability measures. Tariffs would be applied to countries that reject these principles. It’s an intriguing idea, but the details would be tricky. The author punctuates the book with accounts of his meetings with leaders such as Putin, Helmut Kohl, and German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. He presents a clear-minded, thought-provoking book, and he pulls no punches.
Döpfner issues a sharp warning about the danger of appeasement and charts an alternative path forward.
