Power 3.0: Understanding Modern Authoritarian Influence - Exploring how savvy authoritarian governments survive and thrive in a globalized information age, and the ways that democracies are contending with this challenge.

July 14, 2021

The School of Hard Knocks: Kleptocratic Reputation Laundering and Universities

By Lily Sabol and Ryan Arick

In March 2018, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an institution to which the Saudi...

June 9, 2021

Nothing to See Here: Transnational Repression and Authoritarian Image Management

By Alexander Dukalskis

Before he boarded his flight from Athens to Vilnius on May 23, dissident Belarusian activist-journalist Raman Pratasevich expressed concern that Belarusian security services had followed him in the airport prior to his flight and even attempted to photograph his travel documents....

May 20, 2021

Containing COVID-19 Disinformation: A Conversation with Three Experts

In this episode of the Power 3.0 podcast, International Forum program officer Dean Jackson interviews three experts about how COVID-19 has accelerated disinformation challenges that undermine the integrity of the information space,...

May 10, 2021

Op-Ed: Authoritarian States are Using COVID Vaccines to Subvert Democracy

By Kevin Sheives and Ryan Arick

In the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Russia are engaged in a diplomatic offensive to gain maximum advantage from the global distribution of their vaccines. In a May 8 opinion piece for Nikkei Asia, International Forum for Democratic...

May 6, 2021

Using the Truth to Tell a Lie: Authoritarian COVID-19 Vaccine Mal-Information Strategies

By Jessica Brandt and Bret Schafer

Over the past year, the regimes in Russia, China, and Iran have used a combination of public diplomacy, propaganda, and overt and covert disinformation campaigns to portray their respective responses to the pandemic as superior to those of the West. This tactic is...