Exporting autocracy : China's role in democratic backsliding in Latin America and the Caribbean
Ryan C. Berg (Author), Henry Ziemer (Author), Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington, D.C.) (Publisher)
The precise mechanisms through which China (the People’s Republic of China, or PRC) may or may not exacerbate LAC’s ongoing democratic regression have been insufficiently studied. Key questions remain as to whether China is merely out for economic gain, exerting an unintentional downward pressure on the quality of democratic institutions, or whether certain characteristics of China’s engagement render it more corrosive to democracy than other countries. Furthermore, given the sheer variety of China’s relations in the hemisphere, there may be specific activities Beijing engages in which produce a more deleterious effect on the quality of democracy than others. This report seeks to investigate these questions and more fully enumerate the nature of China’s impact on democracy in LAC. It posits two independent but correlated mechanisms through which China contributes to democratic backsliding. First, the PRC propagates its model of authoritarian governance through its soft power engagements in media, education, and people-to-people diplomacy, as well as through its security assistance, which often features tools enabling mass surveillance and the curtailment of civil and political rights. Second, China protects regimes undergoing democratic backsliding by providing economic and diplomatic cover even as these governments become increasingly isolated from the rest of the international system, in effect extending these governments beyond their natural lifespan
eBook, English, 2024
Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, 2024