How Strong Are Iran’s Strongmen?

About this episode

Stephen Kotkin discusses the dynamics of authoritarian regimes and the challenges of regime change in Iran.

When the United States and Israel launched a joint war on Iran two weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iranians to rise up and rid themselves of their tyrannical rulers. He seemed buoyed by his success in swiftly removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in January. But the war in Iran has not progressed as smoothly as Trump might have liked. The authoritarian regime that runs the Islamic Republic remains firmly in place. The historian Stephen Kotkin, who is the Kleinheinz senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, has spent decades thinking about how these regimes function, how they survive, and how they come to an end. In “The Weakness of the Strongmen,” an essay in the January/February issue of Foreign Affairs, Kotkin anatomized authoritarianism, arguing that many of the features that bolster autocrats also present vulnerabilities. Kotkin is the preeminent biographer of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, a close observer of contemporary Russian and Chinese politics, and a sharp analyst of American foreign policy. He spoke with Executive Editor Justin Vogt on Friday, March 13, and explained what makes authoritarian regimes tick, how their weaknesses can…

People in this episode

Host: Justin Vogt

Guest: Stephen Kotkin

Topics covered

• Iran
• authoritarianism
• regime change
• U.S. foreign policy
• historical analysis

Keywords

• Iran
• authoritarianism
• Stephen Kotkin
• regime change
• U.S. foreign policy
• Donald Trump
• Venezuela

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Foreign Affairs Magazine, Stanford University, Hoover Institution

Books & works: The Weakness of the Strongmen

Places: Iran, Venezuela, United States, Israel

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