Dictating the Agenda: Authoritarian Resurgence & Influence in World Politics

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Alexander Cooley (Claire Tow Professor of Political Science, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University) Alexander Dukalskis (Associate Professor, Associate Professor, University College Dublin)

Dictating the Agenda

Authoritarian Resurgence & Influence in World Politics

Alexander Cooley (Claire Tow Professor of Political Science, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University), Alexander Dukalskis (Associate Professor, Associate Professor, University College Dublin)

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English

Oxford University Press
01 December 2025

Politics & government; Comparative politics; International relations

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.

By: Alexander Cooley (Claire Tow Professor of Political Science Claire Tow Professor of Political Science Barnard College Columbia University), Alexander Dukalskis (Associate Professor, Associate Professor, University College Dublin)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9780197776360
ISBN 10: 0197776361
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 01 December 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Chapter 1: Introduction: Dictating the Agenda Chapter 2: The 1990s Origins and the Acceleration of Transnational Liberal Influence Chapter 3: The Waning of Transnational Liberal Influence in the 2020s Chapter 4: Authoritarian Backfire Explained Chapter 5: Reconfiguring Media Influence Chapter 6: Repurposing Global Consumer Boycotts Chapter 7: Harnessing Global Higher Education Chapter 8: Rewriting the Playbook: Global Sports Chapter 9: Conclusion Appendices

Alexander Cooley is the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and Vice Provost for Research and Academic Centers at Barnard College, Columbia University. From 2015-21 he served as the 15th Director of Columbia University's Harriman Institute for the Study of Russia, Eurasia and Eastern Europe. Professor Cooley's research examines how international actors have influenced the governance, sovereignty, and security of the post-Communist states. In addition to his academic publications, Professor Cooley's commentaries have appeared in Foreign Affairs, New York Times, and Washington Post and he has testified for the US Congress, UK Parliament and the Parliament of Canada. Alexander Dukalskis is associate professor in the School of Politics & International Relations at University College Dublin. His research and teaching interests include authoritarian politics, human rights, and Asian politics. He is also a frequent expert commentator in national and international media on these themes. From 2022-2024 he directed UCD's Centre for Asia-Pacific Research. He is the author of two books, Making the World Safe for Dictatorship (Oxford University Press, 2021) and The Authoritarian Public Sphere (Routledge, 2017), and academic articles in several leading journals.

Reviews for Dictating the Agenda: Authoritarian Resurgence & Influence in World Politics

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 *