The end of the last century brought about what scholars have called a “unipolar moment.” With the fall of the Soviet Union, liberalism lost its enemy on the global stage, which led the United States to try to establish an international liberal order by promoting liberalism transnationally. This latter approach has not only been harshly criticized for often being executed hypocritically and sometimes causing disastrous wars, but also ultimately seems to have failed. While Cold War restorationism might be dangerous and mistaken, today’s world again features different authoritarian global powers, with the U.S. seemingly on the path to becoming one itself. Moreover, while democracy promotion by Western liberal states is deteriorating, scholars have argued that authoritarian powers are increasing their collaboration on the global stage to extend authoritarian rule across space and time.
In this conversation, Professors Alexander Dukalskis and Alexander Cooley argue that the project to spread liberalism around the world has caused a snapback, in which authoritarian regimes aim to capture and repurpose the actors, tools, and norms once created by liberal democracies for their own ends. Their book, Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics, was published by Oxford University Press in September 2025.
Alexander Cooley is the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and Vice Provost for Academic Centers and Libraries at Barnard College, Columbia University, and an Academy Adjunct Faculty member at Chatham House.
Alexander Dukalskis is Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin.
The interview was conducted by Konstantin Kipp. Lilit Hakobyan edited the audio file.
