HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019280.jpg

BREAKING DOWN DEMOCRACY: Goals, Strategies, and Methods of Modern Authoritarians

tions of regimes that have been sullied by the jailing of
dissidents or opposition leaders, the shuttering of media
outlets, or violent actions on peaceful demonstrators.

Is the money that authoritarians allocate for image
beautification well spent? Some campaigns have been
more successful than others, but autocracies that
hire well-known former cabinet secretaries or elected
officials to defend or deny their acts of repression often
fail to sway either the public or the policy community
in the United States. If democratic leaders have not
mounted adequate responses to such repression, it is

generally because of other strategic concerns or simple
neglect, not because lobbyists have persuaded them
that the regime in question is benevolent and just.

Authoritarian efforts to change governments, as
opposed to perceptions, may ultimately prove more
rewarding. Russia’s wager on the rise of friendly
European populist parties already seems to be paying
off. After Britain’s vote to withdraw from the EU and
the triumph of Donald Trump in the United States,
the prospect of radical shifts in global politics can no
longer be dismissed as unthinkable.

1. Brian Whitmore, “Vladimir Putin, Conservative Icon,” Atlantic, December 20, 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/ar-
chive/2013/12/vladimir-putin-conservative-icon/282572/?single_page=true.
2. Ivo Oliveira, “National Front Seeks Russian Cash for Election Fight,” Politico, February 19, 2016, http://www.politico.eu/article/le-
pen-russia-crimea-putin-money-bank-national-front-seeks-russian-cash-for-election-fight/.
3. Andrew Higgins, “Far-Right Fever for a Europe Tied to Russia,” New York Times, May 20, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/
world/europe/europes-far-right-looks-to-russia-as-a-guiding-force.html?_r=0.
4. Susi Dennison and Dina Pardijs, “The World according to Europe’s Insurgent Parties: Putin, Migration and People Power,” European
Council on Foreign Relations, June 27, 2016, http://www.ecfr.eu/publications/summary/the_world_according_to_europes_insur-
gent_parties7055.
5. Krisztina Than, “Special Report: Inside Hungary’s $10.8 Billion Nuclear Deal with Russia,” Reuters, March 30, 2015, http://www.
reuters.com/article/us-russia-europe-hungary-specialreport-idUSKBN0MQ0MP20150330.
6. Dennison and Pardijs, “The World according to Europe’s Insurgent Parties.”
7. “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Speech at the 25th Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp,” Website of the Hungari-
an Government, July 26, 2014, http://www.kormany.hu/en/the-prime-minister/the-prime-minister-s-speeches/prime-minister-vik-
tor-orban-s-speech-at-the-25th-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp.
8. Dennison and Pardijs, “The World according to Europe’s Insurgent Parties.”
9. Ibid.
10. Jason Karaian, “Putin Has Friends on Europe’s Far Right and Left (but Mostly Right),” Quartz, January 15, 2015, http://
qz.com/326487/putin-has-friends-on-europes-far-right-and-left-but-mostly-right/.
11. Amber Phillips, “Paul Manafort’s Complicated Ties to Ukraine, Explained,” Washington Post, August 19, 2016, https://www.washing-
tonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/19/paul-manaforts-complicated-ties-to-ukraine-explained/.
12. Steven Lee Myers and Andrew E. Kramer, “How Paul Manafort Wielded Power in Ukraine Before Advising Donald Trump,” New York
Times, July 31, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/us/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html.
13. Ibid.
14. Engen Tham and Matthew Miller, “Exclusive: Beijing Auditions Foreign Public Relations Firms to Polish China Brand,” Reuters, April
22, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-pr-exclusive-idUSKCN0XJ007.
15. Arch Puddington, “Paul Manafort Is the Tip of the Iceberg,” Freedom at Issue, August 18, 2016, https://freedomhouse.org/blog/
paul-manafort-tip-iceberg; Ilya Lozovsky, “How Azerbaijan and Its Lobbyists Spin Congress,” Foreign Policy, June 11, 2015, http://
foreignpolicy.com/2015/06/11/how-azerbaijan-and-its-lobbyists-spin-congress/.
16. Ken Silverstein, “How Bahrain Works Washington,” Salon, December 8, 2011, http://www.salon.com/2011/12/08/how_bahrain_
works_washington/; Akbar Shahid Ahmed, “How Wealthy Arab Gulf States Shape the Washington Influence Game,” Huffington
Post, September 2, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/arab-gulf-states-washington_us_55e62be5e4b0b7a9633ac659.
17. Lachlan Markay, “State-Owned Venezuelan Oil Firm Spends Millions on U.S. Lobbying,” Washington Free Beacon, June 6, 2016,
http://freebeacon.com/issues/state-owned-venezuelan-oil-firms-spends-millions-u-s-lobbying/.
18. Ben Schreckinger and Iulia Ioffe, “Lobbyist Advised Trump Campaign While Promoting Russian Pipeline,” Politico, October 7, 2016,
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-campaign-lobbyist-russian-pipeline-229264.
19. Brian Rohan, “Egypt’s Mukhabarat Hires Washington Lobbyists to Boost Image,” Associated Press, March 5, 2017, http://bigstory.
ap.org/article/d8d55dbbcedb4e589d33555cc5fa8855/egypts-general-intelligence-registers-washington-lobbyist.
20. Theodoric Meyer, “Flynn Lobbied for Turkish-linked Firm after Election, Documents Show,” Politico, March 8, 2017, http://www.
politico.com/story/2017/03/michael-flynn-lobby-turkey-235843.
21. Ben Stewart, “When Russia Declared War on Greenpeace: The Story of the Arctic 30 Captured on a Gazprom Drilling Platform and
Sentenced to Years in Jail,” Independent, April 11, 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/when-russia-declared-
war-on-greenpeace-the-story-of-the-arctic-30-captured-on-a-gazprom-drilling-10170138.html.
22. Andrew Higgins, “Russian Money Suspected Behind Fracking Protests,” New York Times, November 30, 2014, http://www.nytimes.
com/2014/12/01/world/russian-money-suspected-behind-fracking-protests.html.

46
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019280