This is the time of year to relax, catch up on reading, and recharge our brains for the new year. As 2020 comes to a close, we’re highlighting some of the most impactful pieces recommended to us and written by our blog authors and podcast guests, as well as other influential thinkers.

The International Forum’s Power 3.0 blog and podcast serve as platforms for experts to unpack the unprecedented challenges posed to democracy by authoritarian actors. These actors—China, Russia, and others—manipulate features of the liberal international order to exert malign influence in areas like emerging technology, disinformation, and transnational kleptocracy. We’ve flagged must-read selections in each category listed below. Check out our 2019 list for even more recommendations!

Emerging Technologies

• Must Read: “Dangerous Synergies: Countering Chinese and Russian Digital Influence Operations” by Daniel Kliman, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Kristine Lee, Joshua Fitt, and Carisa Neitsche (Center for a New American Security)
• “China’s Smart Cities Development” (U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission)
• Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble
• Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World by Bruce Schneier
• The Reality Game: How the Next Wave of Technology Will Break the Truth by Samuel C. Woolley
• Terms of Disservice: How Silicon Valley is Destructive by Design by Dipayan Ghosh
• Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society by Ronald Deibert
• “Freedom on the Net 2020: The Pandemic’s Digital Shadow” by Adrian Shahbaz and Allie Funk (Freedom House)
• “It’s Not Just the Content, It’s the Business Model: Democracy’s Online Speech Challenge” by Nathalie Maréchal and Ellery Roberts Biddle (Ranking Digital Rights)
• “Ensuring a Trusted 5G Ecosytem of Vendors and Technology” by Rajiv Shah (Australian Strategic Policy Institute)

Disinformation and Media

• Must Read: “Detecting Digital Fingerprints: Tracing Chinese Disinformation in Taiwan” by Nick Monaco, Melanie Smith, and Amy Studdart (the Institute for the Future’s Digital Intelligence Lab, Graphika, and the International Republican Institute)
• How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict by Nina Jankowicz
• Protection from Deception, First Draft’s SMS course
• “Iran’s Broadcaster: Inauthentic Behavior” by Ben Nimmo, C. Shawn Eib, Léa Ronzaud, Rodrigo Ferreira, Thomas Lederer, and Melanie Smith (Graphika)
• “Demand for Deceit: How the Way We Think Drives Disinformation” by Samuel C. Woolley and Katie Joseff (National Endowment for Democracy)
• “China’s Coronavirus Information Offensive” by Laura Rosenberger (Foreign Affairs)
• “Made in Hollywood, Censored by Beijing: The U.S. Film Industry and Chinese Government Influence” by James Tager (PEN America)

China’s Authoritarian Influence 

• Must Read: “Telling China’s Story: The Chinese Communist Party’s Campaign to Shape Global Narratives” by Renee DiResta, Carly Miller, Vanessa Molter, John Pomfret, and Glenn Tiffert (Stanford Internet Observatory and Hoover Institution)
• “The Chinese Communist Party’s Coercive Diplomacy” by Fergus Hanson, Emilia Currey, and Tracy Beattie (Australian Strategic Policy Institute)
• Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World by Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg
• “Friends and Enemies: A Framework for Understanding Chinese Political Interference in Democratic Countries” by Matt Schrader (Alliance for Securing Democracy)
• “From Tiananmen to Neo-Stalinism” by Minxin Pei (Journal of Democracy)
• “An Emerging China-Centric Order: China’s Vision for a New World Order in Practice” edited by Nadège Rolland (National Bureau of Asian Research)
• Coda Story and the Center for European Policy Analysis’ China Influence Monitor newsletter
• “The Authoritarian Assault on Knowledge” by Glenn Tiffert (Journal of Democracy)
• “Becoming a Chinese Client State: The Case of Serbia” by Heather Conley, Jonathan Hillman, Maesea McCalpin, and Donatienne Ruy (Center for Strategic & International Studies)
• Insidious Power: How China Undermines Global Democracy edited by Hsu Szu-chien & J. Michael Cole
• “The China Challenge,” by Jeffrey Cimmino and Matthew Kroenig (Atlantic Council)
• Beijing’s Global Megaphone: The Expansion of Chinese Communist Party Media Influence since 2017 by Sarah Cook (Freedom House)
• Feeding the Dragon: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, & American Business by Chris Fenton

Russia’s Authoritarian Influence

• Must Read: “The Company You Keep: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Influence Operations in Africa” (Free Russia Foundation)
• “Russia’s Footprint in the Western Balkan Information Environment” (NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence)
• “The Art of Deceit: How China and Russia Use Sharp Power to Subvert the West” edited by Andrew Foxall and Dr. John Hemmings (Henry Jackson Society)
• “Authoritarian Shadows in the European Union: Influence of Authoritarian Third Countries on EU Institutions” by Péter Krekó, Patrik Szicherle, and Csaba Molnár (Political Capital Institute) 
• “Countering Russian & Chinese Influence Activities,” by Heather A. Conley, Rachel Ellehuus, Timothy Kostelancik, Jeffrey Mankoff, Cyrus Newlin, Amy Searight, and Devin Stewart (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
• “The Kremlin Playbook in Southeast Europe: Economic Influence and Sharp Power” (Center for the Study of Democracy)

Transnational Klepocracy

• Must Read: Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World by Tom Burgis
• “Linking Values and Strategy: How Democracies Can Offset Autocratic Advances” by Jessica Brandt, Zack Cooper, Bradley Hanlon, Laura Rosenberger (Alliance for Securing Democracy)
• “Dubai’s Role in Facilitating Corruption and Global Illicit Financial Flows” edited by Matthew T. Page and Jodi Vittori (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
• Luanda Leaks investigation (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists)
• “Global Financial Flows of Putin’s Russia” edited by Peter Eltsov and Natalya Lunde (Free Russia Foundation)
• “The Maduro Regime’s Illicit Activities: A Threat to Democracy in Venezuela and Security in Latin America” by Douglas Farah (Atlantic Council)
• Cody Story’s Oligarchy newsletter
• “Covert Foreign Money: Financial Loopholes Exploited by Authoritarians to Fund Political Interference in Democracies” by Josh Rudolph and Thomas Morley (Alliance for Securing Democracy)

Democratic Norms and Ideas

• Must Read: Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency by Larry Diamond
• Radio Svoboda’s coverage of the pandemic
• Democracies Divided: The Global Challenge of Political Polarization edited by Thomas Carothers and Andrew O’Donohue 
• Journal of Democracy January 2020 issue – “Democracy Embattled” surveys the legacies of recent decades and the critical issues that confront democracies today.
• “How Authoritarians Use International Law” by Tom Ginsburg (Journal of Democracy)
• “Countering the Authoritarian Challenge: Public Diplomacy, Soft Power, and Sharp Power” by Joseph S. Nye Jr. (Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development)