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Explores how authoritarian regimes are deploying sharp power to undermine democracies from within by weaponizing universities, institutions, media, technology, and entertainment industries.The world's dictators are no longer content with shoring up control over their own populations—they are now exploiting the openness of the free world to spread disinformation, sow discord, and suppress dissent. In Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power, editors William J. Dobson, Tarek Masoud, and Christopher Walker bring together leading analysts to explain how the world's authoritarians are attempting to erode the pillars of democratic societies—and what we can do about it. Popular media, entertainment industries, universities, the tech world, and even critical political institutions are being manipulated by dictators who advance their regimes' interests by weakening democracies from within. Autocrats' use of sharp power constitutes one of the gravest threats to liberal, representative government today. The optimistic, early twenty-first-century narrative of how globalization, the spread of the internet, and the rise of social media would lead to liberalization everywhere is now giving way to the realization that these same forces provide inroads to those wishing to snuff out democracy at the source. And while autocrats can do much to wall their societies off from democratic and liberal influences, free societies have not yet fully grasped how they can resist the threat of sharp power while preserving their fundamental openness and freedom.Far from offering a counsel of despair, the international contributors in this collection identify the considerable resources that democracy provides for blunting sharp power's edge. With careful case studies of successful resistance efforts in such countries as Australia, the Czech Republic, and Taiwan, this book offers an urgent message for anyone concerned with the defense of democracy in the twenty-first century.Contributors: Ketty W. Chen, Sarah Cook, William J. Dobson, John Fitzgerald, Martin Hála, Samantha Hoffman, Aynne Kokas, Edward Lucas, Tarek Masoud, Nadège Rolland, Ruslan Stefanov, Glenn Tiffert, Martin Vladimirov, Christopher Walker

Thirty years ago, just as the Soviet bloc had begun to crumble, the first issue of the Journal of Democracy laid out this publication's mission. It declared from the outset that it would be \"pluralistic,\" that its pages would be \"open to a wide variety of perspectives and shades of opinion.\" Obviously, in the struggle between democracy and its opponents, the Journal would not be ambivalent. Rather, as a genuinely international forum for ideas and debate, it would seek to \"advance understanding of the broader conditions and strategies for instituting, consolidating, and maintaining democratic government.\"1 As the totalitarian shadow of the Soviet Union receded, democracy's prospects appeared bright.

Even now, nearly two decades since the start of the \"color revolutions,\" Party officials still regularly warn that they must steel themselves against possible popular uprisings that can sweep across the land. [...]there are the cameras: long \"rifle-style\" models that zoom in on their targets in high-def detail; infrared lenses for night vision; wide-angle versions that follow people down the street; drones, armed with facial-recognition technology, that patrol more remote stretches. The expansion of 5G mobile internet networks will open new data streams that could allow city planners to keep even closer tabs on retail sales, food consumption, air quality, or foot traffic. Both poles of the surveillance state—the dystopian police state of Xinjiang's capital Urumqi or the effortless comforts of Hangzhou—are testaments to the regime's insecurity. Because as surely as the Party fears disgruntled Uyghur separatists in the far west, so too does it worry about the restless expectations of its burgeoning middle class.

With the July 1, 1997, return of Hong Kong to China a little more than a year away, Beijing is abuzz with activity. The Red First Regiment has learned a song titled, \"I Love You, Hong Kong\"; Lu Ping, the Chinese director of the takeover, drives a car with a license plate that reads \"1997.\" In nearby Hong Kong, spirits are far more sober. Last week the British governor of Hong Kong, Christopher Patten, was in Washington to lobby Congress to drop its threats to withdraw China's most-favored-nation (MFN) status. Given Hong Kong's enormous stake in the Chinese economy, an American withdrawal of China's MFN status would have devastating effects on Hong Kong at a time when stability is at a premium. If the health of Chinese-Hong Kong relations is not persuasive enough, perhaps Congress should bear in mind the American stake in Hong Kong. On a cost basis, US investments in Hong Kong are valued at $12 billion. Today American companies employ nearly 10% of the local work force. And despite more than 150 years of British rule, the 36,000 Americans on the island surpass the number of British residents.

Dobson reviews \"Hong Kong: China's challenge,\" by Michael Yahuda, and \"The international politics of the Asia-Pacific, 1945-1995\" by Michael Yahuda.

\"A 20-something named Austin Heap has found the perfect disguise for dissidents in their cyberwar against the world's dictators.\" (Newsweek) This article describes how \"a new generation of hacktivists [are] fighting back\" against oppressive regimes.

The fact is that Ch[double dagger]vez is desperate to distract Venezuelans from his disastrous mismanagement of the economy. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September, and analysts say the results are impossible to predict despite Chávez's strong-arm political tactics and his muzzling of the media. The country's inflation rate--more than 31 percent, according to the central bank--is among the world's highest.