Salvatore Babones is a political sociologist at the University of Sydney. His book The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism, and the Tyranny of Experts was named ‘Best on Politics 2018’ by the Wall Street Journal. While recognizing that expertise is important for effective policy-making, Salvatore argues in The New Authoritarianism that when expert opinion becomes the only politically acceptable point of view, it no longer contributes to the health of democracy but instead promotes a new form of authoritarianism: the liberal authoritarianism of the expert class.

Salvatore is also the author or co-author of six other books and more than two dozen academic research articles. His academic research takes a long-term approach to interpreting the structure of the global economy, with a particular focus on China. He is the author of American Tianxia: Chinese Money, American Power, and the End of History and the co-author (with Hartmut Elsenhans) of BRICS or Bust? Escaping the Middle Income Trap. He also writes regularly for Quadrant, Spectator Australia, and The National Interest. Salvatore is currently researching a book on civilization.