Resources
Resources
Browse resources on authoritarian sharp power and its effects on the integrity of institutions and globalized spaces.
0 Filters Applied
Source: Visegrad Insight
Publication Date: April 27, 2022
Russia’s Digital Battleground: Polish Society
Authoritarian Country: Russia
Affected Region: Poland, Ukraine, Europe
Immediately after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the Polish online space was riddled with disinformation about fuel shortages, refugees, and Ukrainian statehood, among other themes. Disseminators of fake news adapted to real socio-political events in order to influence, fabricate, and even control them.
Source: Atlantic Council
Publication Date: April 19, 2022
China’s Discourse Power Operations in the Global South: An Overview of Chinese Activities in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Middle East and North Africa, South Africa, Iran, Venezuela, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean
Author: Kenton Thibaut
Case studies on South Africa, Venezuela, and Iran reveal evidence of a symbiotic relationship between Beijing’s efforts to enhance its discourse power—including by co-opting the voices of foreign leaders—and local governments’ efforts to weaken the checks and balances that civil society imposes.
Publication Date: March 24, 2022
China’s Influence in the Nordic-Baltic Information Environment: Latvia and Sweden
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Europe, Sweden, Latvia
Author: Katherine Nichols et al.
Beijing exploits several avenues of influence in the Nordic-Baltic region, including economic cooperation and investments, academic and parliamentary relationships, public diplomacy, and efforts to strengthen its ‘discourse power’ through local media and proxies.
Source: Asia Democracy Network
Publication Date: February 21, 2022
China’s Rise Under the Lens: Democracy and Human Rights at Risk
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Philippines, Malaysia, Asia-Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Burma, South Korea, Pakistan, Cambodia
Author: Cleve V. Arguelles, Karel Jiaan Antonio Galang
Beijing continues to actively undermine strong democracies, enthusiastically support illiberal forces in fragile democracies, and diligently create relationships of mutual dependence among non-democracies. Outright coercion, disinformation, censorship, and influence-peddling campaigns are commonplace.
Source: China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe
Publication Date: February 21, 2022
China’s Aid in the Western Balkans: Supporting Development, Undermining Good Governance
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Europe
Author: Ana Krstinovska
The People’s Republic of China’s development assistance is an important instrument in its “transactional” diplomacy in the Western Balkans. It aims to reward countries that maintain friendly ties and to control and influence countries’ attitudes on issues of interest to the Chinese Communist Party.
Source: New York Times, ProPublica
Publication Date: February 17, 2022
Bots and Fake Accounts Push China’s Vision of Winter Olympic Wonderland
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Global
Author: Steven Lee Myers, Paul Mozur, Jeff Kao
Chinese authorities leveraged bots, fake accounts, genuine social media influencers, and other tools to shape how the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing were portrayed, even outside the country.
Publication Date: February 16, 2022
Russia Has Big Plans for Africa
Authoritarian Country: Russia
Affected Region: Middle East and North Africa, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Sub-Saharan Africa, Mali
Author: Samuel Ramani
Russia is not expanding its influence in Africa just through the use of military contractors; it has also made a hardcore diplomatic push across the continent and views Africa as both a provenance for resources for its state-owned companies and a potential market for Russian goods.
Source: European Council on Foreign Relations
Publication Date: January 31, 2022
Tough Trade: The Hidden Costs of Economic Coercion
Authoritarian Country: China, Russia
Affected Region: Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Europe, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Netherlands
Author: Jonathan Hackenbroich, Filip Medunic, Pawel Zerka
To build resilience against economic coercion by China and Russia, the European Union should develop an Anti-Coercion Instrument, along with a strong agenda for improving economic strength and trade links, a Resilience Office, and a reformed Blocking Statute that can counter secondary sanctions.
Source: Journal of Democracy
Publication Date: January 14, 2022
Countering Beijing’s Media Manipulation
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Global
Author: Sarah Cook
Some tactics used by Chinese Communist Party-linked actors to manipulate foreign information environments—disseminating propaganda, spreading disinformation, censoring critical coverage, and controlling information infrastructure—ran into stumbling blocks, while others were remarkably effective.
Publication Date: December 20, 2021
The Kremlin Playbook 3
Authoritarian Country: Russia
Affected Region: Global
Author: Heather A. Conley, Donatienne Ruy
The Kremlin seeks to break societal consensus around the liberal democratic order and build support for Russia’s policy preferences by positioning itself as a defender of conservative values. Such “strategic conservatism” builds on and uses Russia’s existing propaganda and disinformation networks.
Source: Central European Institute of Asian Studies
Publication Date: December 18, 2021
Under the Radar: Mapping the Czech and Slovak Local Governments’ Ties to China
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Slovakia, Europe, Czechia
Author: Matej Šimalčík et al.
A mapping of the paradiplomatic relations of sub-national entities in Slovakia and Czechia identified at least 46 instances of agreement-based cooperation with Chinese partners. A lack of transparency and limited public control over these relations contributed to a culture of non-accountability.
Source: Atlantic Council
Publication Date: December 16, 2021
China’s Disinformation Strategy: Its Dimensions and Future
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Asia-Pacific, China, Taiwan, North America, United States
Author: Dexter Roberts
The Chinese Communist Party uses state media organs and social media platforms to push disinformation in an effort to influence public opinion. It has also proven adept at leveraging its ever-larger market to coerce everyone from pop stars to multinational executives to accept the party’s line.
Source: New York Times
Publication Date: December 12, 2021
How Beijing Influences the Influencers
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Global
Author: Paul Mozur et al.
State-run Chinese news outlets and local governments organized and funded pro-Beijing influencers who painted cheery portraits of life as foreigners in China—and hit back at criticisms of Beijing’s authoritarian governance, its policies toward ethnic minorities, and its handling of the coronavirus.
Publication Date: December 9, 2021
Borrowing Mouths to Speak on Xinjiang
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Global
Author: Fergus Ryan et al.
Chinese state entities have supported foreign influencers in the creation of social media content in Xinjiang, as well as amplified influencer content that supports pro-CCP narratives, as part of a wider global propaganda push to counter critical reporting about human rights abuses in the region.
Source: Stockholm Free World Forum
Publication Date: December 8, 2021
CCTV – A Trojan Horse in International News Dissemination?
Authoritarian Country: China
Affected Region: Global
Author: Øystein Bogen
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV maintains contracts with Thomson Reuters and Associated Press guaranteeing the distribution of scripted footage to global clients. Some content is heavily editorialized, contains dubious sources, and appears designed to reinforce Beijing’s foreign policy priorities.