Category: Authoritarianism

China deploying ‘Orwellian technologies’ in disinformation ops

     

China is employing programs of direct propaganda and disinformation, similar to Russian disinformation efforts, according to a new analysis from the RAND Corporation. Beijing’s Communist authorities are likely to “step… Read more »

Centrists are the most hostile to democracy?

     

Across Europe and North America, support for democracy is in decline. To explain this trend, conventional wisdom points to the political extremes. Both the far left and the far right… Read more »

Democracies in strategic competition with revisionist authoritarian powers

     

Russia isn’t the only authoritarian state to exploit new technologies for the purpose of undermining democracy and advancing illiberal values, analysts suggest. China’s planned development of a “new digital Silk… Read more »

How Democracy Ends – ‘in its sleep’?

     

Central Europe is going backwards, with populism, nationalism and “illiberal democracy” on the rise. That is the consensus among many opinion leaders in Western Europe and North America, notes CEPA’s… Read more »

China ‘donor bombshell’ reveals Beijing’s sharp power influence ops

     

A Chinese-Australian real estate developer “co-conspired to bribe” a senior United Nations official, according to claims made in Federal Parliament: Andrew Hastie, who chairs the powerful intelligence and security committee,… Read more »

Impatient dictators: ‘How to Rig an Election’

     

Authoritarian states are using all-too familiar constitutional mechanisms to consolidate power, according to activist-journalists Tamara Grigoryeva and Ismail Djalilov. Across Eurasia, snap elections happen rather frequently, they write for Open… Read more »

After ‘sham election’, four steps for rebuilding Venezuela’s democracy

     

Electoral authorities declared President Nicolas Maduro, the Council on Foreign Relations notes, with about 68 percent of votes cast, the winner in a Sunday snap presidential election. Roughly 46 percent… Read more »

Violent Extremism in Indonesia: Vulnerabilities and Sources of Resilience

     

The recent suicide bombings in Surabaya, Indonesia highlight the country’s continued struggle with radicalism and terrorism. Claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), these attacks typify… Read more »