The Rhodes Center Podcast with Mark Blyth How authoritarianism went from defense to offense on the world stage
22 snips
Feb 23, 2026 Alex Dukalskis, associate professor at UCD studying authoritarianism, and Alexander Cooley, Barnard political scientist on authoritarian influence, discuss how autocratic states learned and adapted since the 1990s. They cover stigmatizing NGOs, legal shields and censorship, corporate pressure from market access, media expansion, and sports as soft power. The conversation maps a five-stage playbook for projecting authoritarian power globally.
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Stigmatization Softens Targets For Repression
- Authoritarian snapback often starts by stigmatizing liberal actors by linking them to foreign rivals.
- Alex Dukalskis describes labeling NGOs, journalists, or companies as spies or regime-change agents to soften them for later repression.
Shielding Uses Laws To Cut Information Flows
- Shielding closes information flows through laws and bans after stigmatization, e.g., Russia’s foreign agent and undesirable organizations laws.
- Alexander Cooley contrasts labeling (foreign agent) with outright bans (undesirable organizations) as sequential tactics.
Reframing Turns Critique Into In-Group Assault
- Authoritarian states reframe domestic debate to make criticism appear as attacks on the national in-group, pressuring firms to conform.
- Alex Dukalskis cites "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people" and firms' market-driven apologies as the mechanism.
