Tag: Shanthi Kalathil

Is technology strengthening authoritarianism relative to democracy?

     

Foreign Affairs, which has published a number of pieces dealing with technology and authoritarianism, asked a broad pool of experts whether technological change today is strengthening authoritarianism relative to democracy. In the past, the assumption was that… Read more »

How to stop technology from damaging democracy

     

  Deepfakes threaten to erode democracy in The Coming Age of Post-Truth Geopolitics, say analysts Robert Chesney and Danielle Citron. The problem is not just that deepfakes can be used to stoke… Read more »

Silent Invasion: China’s sharp power undermining democracy

     

The mayor of an Australian city has admitted that, at the request of a Chinese official, its local council got rid of a Taiwanese flag that some school students painted… Read more »

‘Harbored Ambitions’: BRI aims expand China’s political influence, military presence

     

    A massive Chinese infrastructure program that Beijing says is aimed at promoting global trade and economic growth is actually intended to expand the country’s political influence and military… Read more »

Sharp elbows behind China’s sharp power

     

Despite his stridently nationalist rhetoric, Beijing’s ‘sharp power’ poses no threat to other nations, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Speaking at the close of the annual session of the… Read more »

A ‘Sputnik Moment’? What to do about China’s ‘sharp power’

     

China is manipulating debate in Western democracies by employing “sharp power”, a term coined by the National Endowment for Democracy. “Soft power” harnesses the allure of culture and values to… Read more »

Tillerson criticizes Russia’s use of hybrid warfare ‘to undermine Western institutions’

     

  U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today criticized “Russia’s continued use of hybrid warfare” and its attempts “to undermine Western institutions” in a reference to the mix of state-sponsored… Read more »

China’s secret ‘magic weapon’ for global soft power

     

Xi Jinping is quietly ramping up the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist party in a push for global “soft power”, The FT’s James Kynge writes in a… Read more »

Beijing is exporting Great Firewall in effort to ‘tame’ Internet

     

Chinese authorities have detained a software developer for selling computer services that allow internet users to evade China’s “Great Firewall,” which blocks access to thousands of websites, from Facebook to… Read more »

Revealing narratives censored by China’s soft power

     

In light of China’s ongoing violations of human rights, activists are revealing a narrative often censored or self-censored as a result of pressure from the regime’s soft power, reports suggest…. Read more »