China's Ambitions in Artificial Intelligence: A Challenge to the Future of Democracy?

By Elsa B. Kania Although artificial intelligence (AI) has immense potential for good, its rapid advance is also provoking intense anxieties. Among concerns about “killer robots,” “summoning the demon,” and potential existential threats to humanity, perhaps a graver threat is already immediate—the d ...

Democratic Activism and the Battle Against Modern Kleptocracy

By Dave Peterson In July 2018, famed Angolan journalist and anti-corruption activist Rafael Marques de Morais was acquitted after a two-year legal battle against the Angolan government. Marques and his co-defendant Mariano Brás, the editor of the weekly Angolan newspaper O Crime, faced serious charg ...

The “CAMP" Sectors and the Threat from Sharp Power

By Christopher Walker In democratic countries, the spheres of culture, academia, media, and publishing (the CAMP sectors) are open and accessible, and they must remain so. Yet at a time when the leading authoritarian regimes are contesting democracy at the level of ideas, principles, and standards, ...

From Central Africa to Australia: Following the Kleptocrats’ Money

By Holly Dranginis and Debra LaPrevotte As the former chief of staff of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, James Hoth Mai is a hardened military general who oversaw troops in one of the most violent armed conflicts in the world. But when law enforcement tracked him down, it was in a posh Melbourne ...