This is a story not just of the limits of liberal influence across the world, but of how authoritarian governments came to dictate the global agenda by repurposing the very actors, tools, and norms that once afforded US-backed liberalism such global prominence. Following the end of the Cold War, the world experienced a remarkable wave of democratization. Over the next two decades, numerous authoritarian regimes transitioned to democracies, and it seemed that authoritarianism as a political model was fading. But as recent events have shown, things have clearly changed. In Dictating the Agenda, authors Alexander Cooley and Alexander Dukalskis reveal how today''s authoritarian states are actively countering liberal ideas and advocacy surrounding human rights and democracy across various global governance domains. The transformed global context has unlocked for authoritarian states the possibility to contend with Western liberal soft power in new, traditionally "non-political" ways, including by plugging or even reversing the very channels of influence that originally spread liberalism. Cooley and Dukalskis ultimately advance a theory of authoritarian snapback, the process in which non-democratic states limit the transnational resonance of liberal ideas at home and advance anti-liberal norms and ideas into the global public sphere. Drawing from a range of evidence, including field work interviews and comparative case studies that demonstrate the changing nature of consumer boycotts, a database of authoritarian government administrative actions against foreign journalists, a database of global content-sharing agreement involving Chinese and Russian state media, and a database of transnational higher education partnerships involving authoritarian and democratic countries, this book doesn''t just reveal the limits of the liberal influence taken for granted across the world. It offers a novel theory of how authoritarian governments figured out how to exploit and repurpose the same actors, tools, and norms that once exclusively promoted and sustained US-backed liberalism.
Industry Reviews
"Few works in international relations are simultaneously major contributions to the scholarship and to urgent debates in the public sphere concerning the very future of our open societies. Dictating the Agenda is exactly that. This compelling, deeply researched book couldn't be timelier. It will change the way we think about authoritarian influence in global politics, and especially in liberal democracies" -- Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, University of
Oxford
"Dictating the Agenda reveals how effectively authoritarian states have countered liberal soft power and transnational advocacy related to democracy and human rights in the 21st century. Cooley and Dukalskis combine a persuasive theory of "authoritarian snapback" with engaging case studies of how it operates in diverse empirical domains, including transnational sports and higher education. This is a timely and important read for anyone interested in
the global politics of democracy and authoritarianism" -- Sarah Bush, University of Pennsylvania
"Cooley and Dukalskis offer the best account to date of the ways in which authoritarian regimes have used of avenues provided by the globalized, liberal international order to undermine that order and its norms." -- Miles Kahler, American University and Council on Foreign Relations
"Alexander Cooley and Alexander Dukalskis offer one of the most penetrating and original accounts yet of how authoritarian regimes are reshaping the global order. âWhat gives the book its urgency is not alarmism but clarity. Cooley and Dukalskis do not lament democracyâs decline as fate; they expose the mechanisms through which illiberal regimes exploit liberal vulnerabilities." --Moises Naim, Lawfare
"Throughout, the authors use a sophisticated mixed research methodology and highly accessible language to provide a timely addition to contemporary debates over the nature of change in the international order. As such, this book provides valuable material for all levels of undergraduate and graduate engagement with global politics." -- L. J. Smythe, CHOICE
