Populist politicians are on the rise, even in democratic societies. These leaders openly take advantage of accumulating discontent among ordinary people, that current political system lags in addressing their urgent necessities. Many citizens also agree with the demagogues that liberal democracies are inefficient in taking a full charge of national security environment, even when a sense of insecurity has clearly risen among citizens.
Perhaps partially because of such development, autocratic governments have also been on the rise internationally. Moreover, there are certainly individuals in democratic societies envying the strength through which autocratic leaders push through national goals for ‘greater goods.’ Being aware of these sympathetic elements in democracies, autocratic governments often try to influence the trajectory of the democracies’ policies targeting them, especially by capitalizing on the increasing polarizations and divisions inside these democratic societies’ domestic politics and security debates.
For example, autocratic states such as China and Russia have used various agencies and means to influence the trajectory of major Western democracies’ policies toward them, especially with the issue areas with military and/or territorial repercussions. North Korea has also been well-known for meddling with South Korean domestic politics to assert pressure on South Korean government to adopt certain policy lines favorable to it.
In our open panel, we will discuss how autocratic states such as China, Russia, and North Korea have tried various tactics to exploit diverse and often-polarized security concerns embraced by both elites and public alike within the major democracies of the Asia-Pacific region – such as South Korea, Japan, Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand, etc. These autocratic governments have implemented these indirect pressures and tactics to gain an upper hand in military and security-linked issues they are engaged in with these democracies.
We welcome papers that address empirical cases dealing with this topic, and especially those highlighting how democracies of the region have also implemented countermeasures in military, diplomatic, and/or social areas. We also welcome presentations delving into potential pathways and strategies for the democracies to promote negotiations with the autocratic governments despite such a complex environment.