Combating Authoritarian Influence

While democracies have been preoccupied with internal challenges, the authoritarian regimes in Russia, China, and other countries have pushed boundaries to exert greater influence abroad. These regimes are chipping away at the rules-based system that’s integral to the health of democracy and human rights through systematic actions in international institutions and engagement across a wide range of sectors.

Democracies must simultaneously address their own weaknesses and protect their institutions from external threats in mutually reinforcing ways if they want to prevent authoritarian rivals from making a world safer for autocracy.

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The Long Arm of the Strongman: How China and Russia Use Sharp Power to Threaten Democracies

China and Russia have led the way in tightening control domestically, adapting their techniques for the digital era, and exerting greater influence abroad with the aim of making the world safer for autocracy.

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Appetite for Obstruction: How Autocrats Subvert Democracy’s Infrastructure

Authoritarian powers are determined to tear at the fabric of rules-based institutions—like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Human Dimension Implementation Meeting—and, in the process, reset the rules of the road.

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Understanding Sharp Power

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