History | Politics | Culture

As Governments Tighten Control: Lessons from Soviet Fear and China’s Grip on Dissent

And now Project 2025’s hold on the incoming U.S. administration

Photo of the Lubyanka; license. Attribution: RIA Novosti archive, image #142949 / Vladimir Fedorenko / CC-BY-SA 3.0

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Fear is a language all its own, but not all of us speak it fluently. For those of us who grew up in the West, the relationship between the individual and the state is profoundly different from what many experienced under Soviet rule.

While we may gripe about government inefficiencies or policies, the deep-seated fear of a regime that controls every aspect of our life — down to what we dare glance at in public — is almost impossible for us in the West to comprehend.

Yet, understanding this fear is crucial as we navigate our relationships with other authoritarian regimes today, especially as:

• China tightens its grip on its citizens and expands its reach beyond its borders
• Prime Minister Modi in India increases surveillance on those who oppose him in India
• President elect Trump’s incoming administration plans increased surveillance and arrests of citizens as Project 2025 plans come on board in the U.S., in…