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The CCP’s Global Censorship Campaign – and How NED’s Partners Break Through
In collaboration with NED’s International Forum for Democratic Studies, scholars have analyzed how the CCP deploys online tools as part of a broader strategy to shape global narratives, censor and suppress dissent, and...
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Saying "Farewell" to NED Vice-President Christopher Walker
Chris Walker has been with NED for 13 years, first as the Executive Director of the Forum and then as NED’s Vice-President for Studies and Analysis. In that time, he has been responsible for shaping discourse and programming...
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China Salon Event Recap: How the PRC Is Using AI to Censor, Surveil, and Troll
In China today, AI can censor a million online posts in less than a second and generate convincing propaganda at a keystroke. At the latest in the China Salon series of events hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy,...
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Data-Centric Authoritarianism: How China's Development of Frontier Technologies Could Globalize Repression
A new report authored by Valentin Weber reviews four key data-centric technologies whose development could fortify Beijing’s tech-enabled authoritarian governance model and offers seven critical steps democracies and civil...
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China's Global Challenge to Democracy
A curated list of material on China’s global challenge to democracy from
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the International Forum for Democratic Studies and Journal of Democracy.
Big Question: How are Cybercrime Laws Weaponized to Legalize Repression?
Four leading experts answer the following questions: What concerns do the abuse of cybercrime laws (and the potential UN Convention against Cybercrime, as drafted) present for the work and safety of democratic actors in...
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Stronger Together: Coalitions as a Catalyst for Information Integrity
A new report authored by Tim Niven explores how sweeping changes in the information environment are advancing the efforts of authoritarians in the information space and how coalitions provide civil society organizations with...
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Leveraging AI for Democracy: Civic Innovation on the New Digital Playing Field
A new report by Beth Kerley, Carl Miller, and Fernanda Campagnucci outlines possible paths toward a prodemocratic vision for AI.
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Celebrating the 2023–2024 Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows
The 2023–2024 cohort of Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows brought an incredible wealth of experience, sharp strategic vision, and a spirit of solidarity to NED.
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The Struggle Against Authoritarian Influence in the Western Balkans: Montenegro as a Test Case
A new report authored by Vanja Ćalović Marković explores how Montenegro has become an ideal testing ground for authoritarian actors, and how lessons learned from these influence experiments can be applied by authoritarian...
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Manufacturing Deceit: How Generative AI Supercharges Information Manipulation
A new report authored by Beatriz Saab explores how generative AI is helping authoritarians tip the scales against democracy and accelerate harmful narratives in a wide variety of country contexts, and how civil society organizations...
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Forum Q&A: Ethan Tu and Billion Lee on How Taiwan’s Civil Society Collaborates to Address Information Integrity Challenges from Beijing
John K. Glenn and Kevin Sheives spoke with Ethan Tu and Billion Lee to unpack Beijing’s efforts to undermine Taiwan’s information space and better understand why civil society’s response was so effective.
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International Forum for Democratic Studies Celebrates 30th Anniversary
This month, the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy celebrates 30 years as a leading center for democratic thought and analysis.
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Fighting Kleptocracy in an Era of Geopolitics
A new report by Ben Judah analyzes how the counter-kleptocracy agenda intersects with, and is at times superseded by, competing geopolitical priorities.
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Defining Global Challenges to Democracy
Ahead of the Summit for Democracy, the Forum has released a series of four issue briefs that highlight several emerging global challenges to democracy.
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Announcing New Webpages for Translated Research and Analysis
The International Forum has translated many of its publications about emerging global challenges to democracy into Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
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About the Forum
Power 3.0
Blog and PodcastThe Forum's blog and podcast explore how authoritarians survive and thrive in the globalized age and how democracies contend with this challenge.
Our
Past
WorkA selection of resources from the International Forum for Democratic Studies.
Focus
AreasThe Importance of Democracy, Freedom, and Supporting Them.
Democracy
ChallengesThe series of four issue briefs highlight emerging global challenges to democracy, including integrity of the information space, transnational kleptocracy, emerging technology, and global authoritarian influence.
@THINKDEMOCRACY
LATEST Forum NEWS
Oct 02, 2025
EVENT RECAP: Breaking Through: How Citizens Are Fighting Modern Authoritarian Censorship
Authoritarian regimes worldwide are intensifying their crackdown on independent voices—silencing dissent, restricting access to information, and punishing those who refuse to conform. On September 18, NED’s International...
Aug 11, 2025
China Salon Event Recap: How the PRC Is Using AI to Censor, Surveil, and Troll
In China today, AI can censor a million online posts in less than a second and generate convincing propaganda at a keystroke. At the latest in the China Salon series of events hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy, experts warned that...
Sep 16, 2024
Getting Ahead of Digital Repression: Authoritarian Innovation and Democratic Response
In April 2024, the Hoover Institution's project on China’s Global Sharp Power, Stanford University’s Global Digital Policy Incubator, and the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies held a closed-door,...
Twenty-Second Annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture | Leopoldo López on Networks of Freedom: Defying Tyranny Abroad Through Tech
Events
China Salon on Emergent Digital Repression: How the...
11:00 AM- 11:45 AM
The National Endowment for Democracy hosts a discussion on how large language models (LLMs) and other advanced AI developments fit into the PRC’s wider apparatus of digital repression and worldwide influence projection.
Twenty-First Annual Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture:...
05:30 PM- 06:30 PM
The 2024 Seymour Martin Lipset Lecture on Democracy in the World was delivered by Serhii Plokhii, the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and the Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.DOWNLOAD FORUM BROCHURE
DownloadPublications
The CCP’s Global Censorship Campaign – and How NED’s Partners Break Through
In collaboration with NED’s International Forum for Democratic Studies, scholars have analyzed how the CCP deploys online tools as part of a broader strategy to shape global narratives, censor and suppress dissent, and bolster its legitimacy.
READ MORESaying "Farewell" to NED Vice-President Christopher Walker
Chris Walker has been with NED for 13 years, first as the Executive Director of the Forum and then as NED’s Vice-President for Studies and Analysis. In that time, he has been responsible for shaping discourse and programming on democratic resilience not just at NED, but across the wider foreign policy community. He has supervised and helped build-out the Forum, the Reagan-Fascell Fellows Program, and the Journal of Democracy.
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Data-Centric Authoritarianism: How China's Development of Frontier Technologies Could Globalize Repression
A new report authored by Valentin Weber reviews four key data-centric technologies whose development could fortify Beijing’s tech-enabled authoritarian governance model and offers seven critical steps democracies and civil society must take to ensure a more democratic digital future.
READ MORE
The Struggle Against Authoritarian Influence in the Western Balkans: Montenegro as a Test Case
A new report authored by Vanja Ćalović Marković explores how Montenegro has become an ideal testing ground for authoritarian actors, and how lessons learned from these influence experiments can be applied by authoritarian actors globally.
READ MORE
Stronger Together: Coalitions as a Catalyst for Information Integrity
A new report authored by Tim Niven explores how sweeping changes in the information environment are advancing the efforts of authoritarians in the information space and how coalitions provide civil society organizations with a powerful framework to fight back.
READ MORE
Fighting Kleptocracy in an Era of Geopolitics
In a new International Forum report, Ben Judah analyzes how the counter-kleptocracy agenda intersects with, and is at times superseded by, competing geopolitical priorities.
READ MORE
Leveraging AI for Democracy: Civic Innovation on the New Digital Playing Field
A new report by Beth Kerley, Carl Miller, and Fernanda Campagnucci outlines possible paths toward a prodemocratic vision for AI.
READ MORE
