Democracy Paradox Podcast
Alexander Cooley and Alexander Dukalskis About the Episode:

Authoritarian governments are exercising growing influence not only within their own borders but across the institutions, markets, and organizations that shape global life. Alexander Cooley and Alexander Dukalskis, authors of Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics, join Justin Kempf to examine how authoritarian states have learned to reshape the liberal international order for illiberal ends. They discuss cooperation among autocracies, the growing economic power behind authoritarian influence, pressure on corporations and universities, and what these changes mean for liberalism, democracy, and the future of global governance.

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Show Notes:

For decades, many policymakers and scholars assumed that greater engagement with authoritarian regimes would help spread liberal values. In this episode of the Democracy Paradox, Alexander Cooley and Alexander Dukalskis challenge that assumption. Drawing on their book Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics, they explain how authoritarian governments have increasingly learned to use the institutions and connections of the liberal international order to advance their own interests and weaken liberal norms.

Cooley and Dukalskis describe this process as extending far beyond conventional diplomacy. Authoritarian influence now reaches into international organizations, higher education, professional sports, media, consumer markets, and multinational corporations. They explain how access to large markets – particularly China’s – can pressure companies and other institutions to modify their behavior, while authoritarian states increasingly invest in global media, lobbying, and other tools that allow them to shape narratives and agendas abroad.

The conversation also explores growing cooperation among authoritarian governments. Although countries such as China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and others differ substantially in ideology and interests, Cooley and Dukalskis argue that they often share a common desire to resist liberal constraints such as human rights scrutiny, sanctions, independent media, and democracy promotion. Their cooperation does not necessarily depend on a shared vision for a new international order; instead, it can be pragmatic, transactional, and rooted in a mutual interest in protecting regime security.

Finally, Justin asks what this authoritarian resurgence reveals about democracy itself – and about the changing role of the United States. Cooley and Dukalskis reflect on the erosion of institutions and resources that once supported democracy promotion, investigative journalism, governance research, and international liberal norms. Their discussion raises a fundamental question: If liberal institutions can no longer be assumed to sustain themselves, what will democracies need to do to preserve them?

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