INVITATION | CDE Conversations | Anne Applebaum on The rise of authoritarianism and the future of democracy | Mon 20 July 2026 | 5 to 6pm SAST
Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, journalist and staff writer for The Atlantic. She is a Senior Fellow of International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and she was a Washington Post columnist for more than fifteen years and a member of the editorial board. She has also worked as the Foreign and Deputy Editor of the Spectator magazine, and as a columnist at Slate as well as the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs.
She is the author of several acclaimed books, including Autocracy, Inc. (Doubleday, 2024), Twilight of Democracy (Doubleday, 2020), Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine (Penguin and Doubleday, 2017), Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956 (Doubleday, 2012), and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gulag: A History (Doubleday, 2003). See her bio here.
Anne Applebaum will be in conversation with CDE executive director, Ann Bernstein, to discuss the current geopolitical situation and related topics.
Date: Monday 20 July 2026
Time: 5 to 6 pm (SAST)
Registration: https://cde-org-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_r7MS_apjRFSgZDeZTE0pnQ
For over 30 years, CDE has influenced policy in South Africa’s democracy. We are a unique development policy think tank and prominent public ‘voice’ promoting economic growth, employment, skills development, enterprise and better managed cities in South Africa. We have built a wide network throughout the country and with leading global experts and think tanks, especially in democratic developing countries.
CDE’s flagship project, AGENDA 2024: Priorities for South Africa’s new government, based on extensive policy work and collaboration with experts, business leaders, former public servants and academics, set out to answer what is by far the most important question facing South Africa: What can government do to get the country back on track after more than 15 years of stagnation and decline? See related media statements here, op-eds here and the reports in the series, here.
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