Podcast Summary:

New Books Network | "Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics" with Alexander Cooley & Alexander Dukalskis
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Date: December 3, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features Dr. Alexander Cooley and Dr. Alexander Dukalskis, authors of Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics (Oxford UP, 2025). The discussion explores the global resurgence of authoritarianism, especially how authoritarian states are no longer quietly resisting liberal norms but are actively shaping and contesting the international agenda. The conversation spans theoretical frameworks, empirical evidence from multiple domains (media, consumer activism, higher education, and sport), and key case studies illustrating authoritarian states’ evolving tools and strategies.

Setting the Stage: Author Introductions & Motivations

[02:33]

• Alexander Cooley (Alex C.):

  • Political scientist with expertise in post-Soviet and world order studies
  • Motivated by decades of observing transformations in global governance and interacting with organizations promoting democratic values
  • Recognized spread of authoritarian tactics and backlash against liberal advocacy
  • On collaboration:

    “We had been on several workshops during the pandemic over Zoom...we just said, let’s team up and let’s talk about the greater sweep of authoritarian backlash, not against just human rights, but against all these other areas of global governance where we just assumed that somehow liberal values would naturally be sustained.” (04:48)

• Alexander Dukalskis (Alex D.):

  • Based at University College Dublin, studies authoritarian states
  • Early work on domestic control and propaganda, then international image management by authoritarian regimes
  • Excited to team up, building on mutual interest in how authoritarian states operate in the changing global order

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Beijing Olympics: Lens on Authoritarian Change

[06:31–13:39]

• 2008 Beijing Olympics:

  • Classic case of liberal NGOs, international orgs, and media pressuring for reforms on human rights, Tibet, press freedom
  • Alex C.:

    “It seemed as if this infrastructure of liberal influence would...exert enough social pressure on Beijing that the Games would appear to be a vehicle to promote liberal values.” (08:44)

  • Viewed as China’s “coming out party”; incentive to “play nice” internationally

• 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics:

  • Dramatic change: human rights downplayed, diplomatic boycotts had limited impact
  • Severe curbs on activist voices and media criticism, partly due to China’s investment in narrative control since 2008
  • Alex D.:

    “Human rights are largely downplayed...the activism, human rights activism around 2022 doesn’t reach the levels of 2008...China is more powerful, but also has learned to message itself better, to control criticism and to exert leverage on companies or other actors...” (12:09)

2. Theory: The Authoritarian Snapback Model

[14:04–24:05]

• Built as an answer to prior theories (esp. the “boomerang effect” from Keck & Sikkink, 1998) where liberal advocacy shapes reluctant states
• Now, authoritarians deploy multi-stage tactics to block, stop, and reverse transnational liberal activism:

The Five Stages:

1. Stigmatize: Label adversaries as foreign agents (e.g., Russia’s 2012 law)
2. Shield: Censor/control critical messages (esp. with advanced info control)
3. Reframe Rules of Engagement: Compel liberal actors to operate within narrowed, state-defined constraints
   • Alex C.:

     “We see the liberal actor changing its behavior to comply with the authoritarian state.” (17:46)

4. Project Control/Influence Outward: Use leverage (markets, transnational actors) to enforce rules internationally
5. Dictate the Agenda: Redefine governance of global domains to fit authoritarian preferences (e.g., China’s influence on Hollywood content)

Context:

• Model emerges as authoritarian states gain renewed global power and learn from prior liberal tactics and from each other.
• Alex D.:

  “Not only do they deploy this playbook, but they have increased power...to be able to actualize the steps that we describe.” (23:45)

3. Empirical Domains Under Authoritarian Influence

a. Media

[29:17–39:24]

• Trends: Western media weakened financially; foreign correspondents are disappearing, especially outside major cities

• Authoritarian states fill the void with heavily subsidized, globally dispersed state-run media (e.g., China’s CGTN/Xinhua, Russia’s RT/TASS, Turkey’s TRT World)

  • Empirical data: nearly 200 Chinese state media offices, 300+ content-sharing agreements globally (esp. developing world)
  • State media content often “laundered” via content-sharing, blurring its source for global readers
    • Alex D.:

      “Articles and content that is explicitly state propaganda overseen by the Chinese Communist Party...is running in your local newspaper...it kind of launders the viewpoints...” (33:18)

• Silencing and Access Controls:

  • Widespread use of administrative means to restrict foreign journalists: over 1,000 cases of access denial, visas withheld, accreditation blocked
    • Alex C.:

      “Rather than overtly censor...you quietly pull the access and restrict what foreign journalists can cover as a way of shaping that environment.” (38:04)

b. Consumer Activism / Boycotts

[40:28–47:57]

• Transformation:
  • Western activist consumer boycotts (e.g., Nike and sweatshops) once effective in the ‘90s and early 2000s
  • Now, authoritarian counter-boycotts: e.g., China’s mass mobilization against H&M and the Better Cotton Initiative after their efforts to distance themselves from Xinjiang’s forced labor
    • Official encouragement & “snapback” tactics: stigmatizing watchdogs, reframing market rules, projecting punitive influence (removal from digital maps)
    • Result: Major loss of market access for targeted companies; efforts to redefine what counts as “sustainable” cotton in China’s favor
    • Alex D.:

      “Both the Better Cotton Initiative and H&M have basically been silenced since then...used as a signal to other companies...that you need to use cotton from this region and not make noise about it, or else you’re going to be frozen out from the Chinese market.” (45:12)

c. Higher Education

[48:18–54:35]

• Example: Central European University (CEU), Hungary
  • Founded as a pro-democracy institution post-Cold War; successfully cultivated elite status
  • Orbán government targeted CEU through laws, stigmatization, and administrative barriers—eventually forcing it to relocate to Vienna despite European Court of Justice rulings
    • Alex C.:

      “[CEU’s] expulsion now serves as a model of how to go about bringing higher education institutions to heel...this is really the playbook that has now been disseminated from Orban into some other areas of the world...” (52:56)

  • Playbook spreads to other states and possibly influential for right-wing projects beyond Eastern Europe

d. Sport

[54:52–60:59]

• “Sportswashing”: Authoritarian states host mega-events (Olympics, World Cup, etc.) to promote their image and distract from abuses
• Second wave: Deep financial integration of authoritarian wealth into leagues, clubs, and competitions (e.g., Saudi PIF, Qatar, UAE in European football/soccer)
  • Normalization of authoritarian owners and sponsors; increased institutional pressure to avoid political speech that criticizes hosts/sponsors
    • Example: 2022 Qatar World Cup—FIFA threatened penalties for LGBTQ+ armbands, clubs backed down
    • NBA–China fallout over Hong Kong, costing NBA $400M
    • Alex D.:

      “Authoritarian sponsors have the finances and the wherewithal to basically wait out the activists...authoritarian financing across a range of sporting domains...is having impacts on speech and activism that we’re only now coming to sort of appreciate and understand.” (58:53)

Notable Quotes / Memorable Moments

• “There is no natural refuge, there is no single technology that’s going to promote democracy and decentralization. Not the Internet in the year 2000, not artificial intelligence.” – Dr. Alexander Cooley [61:20]

• “If there’s things that we believe in, how do we more effectively message those and politically maneuver for those?” – Dr. Alexander Cooley [62:51]

• “We see the liberal actor changing its behavior to comply with the authoritarian state.” – Dr. Alexander Cooley [17:46]

• “So H&M went from China’s fourth largest consumer market to outside its top 10. It was effectively frozen out.” – Dr. Alexandra Dukalskis [45:07]

• “Authoritarian states are increasingly filling that [media] void with their own content.” – Dr. Alexandra Dukalskis [30:50]

Final Reflections & Looking Forward

• Politics in all domains is now contested; liberal values are no longer the assumed global baseline. Ongoing contestation means democratic values require active advocacy, not assumptions of stability.
• Both authors are following up with research on how shifts in U.S. politics (e.g. Trump’s return to power) further fuel or adapt these dynamics globally.
• Alex D.:

  “Our book went to press in November of 2024 and of course, that was the month that Trump was elected to his second term...in many ways, foregrounds illiberal engagement in the world. And we’re trying to unpack...how some of those measures...exacerbate some of the dynamics we identify in the book.” (64:41)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:30 — Author introductions and motivations
• 06:31 — The Beijing Olympics as comparative case studies
• 14:04 — The “authoritarian snapback” theory explained
• 24:36 — Why study sport, media, consumer activism, higher education
• 29:17 — Media: authoritarian influence and information flow
• 36:53 — Silencing foreign journalists (administrative controls)
• 40:28 — Consumer activism and the changing nature of boycotts
• 48:18 — Higher education under authoritarian pressure (CEU case)
• 54:52 — Sport: from “sportswashing” to normalized authoritarian funding
• 61:14 — Core takeaways and future research directions

This summary aims to capture the breadth and richness of the episode, giving readers unfamiliar with the podcast both theoretical context and concrete examples, alongside the authors’ core warnings and observations about the global spread and normalization of authoritarian tactics.