Hubertus Heil: The Attack of the Autocrats. Defending Democracy Against Internal and External Enemies

Hubertus Heil vividly describes how hybrid attacks—ranging from disinformation to influence networks to geo-economic levers—are undermining democracy.

At the same time, he outlines ways in which democracies can renew and protect themselves: a highly timely book about the future of our freedom.

A fake news portal, Chinese investments in European ports, powerful tech conglomerates, and a far-right party in Germany spreading Putin’s narrative. None of this is a coincidence; rather, these are all part of a geopolitical power struggle that poses a massive threat to the freedom of democratic societies.

Hubertus Heil unpacks the broader context, analyzing Russian influence operations, Chinese power projection, and the connections between the New Right in Germany and Trumpism in the U.S.

In a vivid and knowledgeable manner, he describes how hybrid warfare, economic pressure, digital platforms, and ideological alliances become weapons. The author combines personal experience and insider knowledge from the inner workings of politics with highly topical issues. A political book about the new systemic competition and what we must do now to preserve democracies.

Hubertus Heil, born in Hildesheim in 1972, is a political scientist and has been a member of the Bundestag since 1998. From 2018 to 2025, he served as Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. Today, he is a member of the German Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Annett Meiritz is a foreign and security policy correspondent at the Handelsblatt’s parliamentary office. Previously, she was the newspaper’s U.S. correspondent in Washington. In 2022, she co-authored the book *Guns n’ Rosé* with Juliane Schäuble, which explores conservative women in the U.S. This was followed in 2025 by the book *The Alliance of the New Right—Make Europe Great Again?*.