Russian-born journalist Masha Gessen talks to us about how the rule of the people becomes the rule of the one, the role of the media, and what we can learn about the building blocks of autocracy from the work of philosopher and writer Hannah Arendt, and what history tells us are the ways to dismantle it.

If you would like to read more from Masha Gessen and Hannah Arendt:

• Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen
• The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt