Spinning Dictatorship: Public Relations & Lobbying in Democracies by Authoritarian States

With Alexander Dukalskis & Christian Gläßel

This project investigates authoritarian regimes hiring of public relations and lobbying firms (PRLF) in democracies. Previous research suggests that many autocrats draw on Western PRLFs to improve their image abroad and stifle criticism. Notable examples include “Tony Blair Associates,” employed to reshape Kazakh President Nazarbayev’s human rights narrative, and “Black, Manafort” which lobbied the US Congress for Zaire’s Mobutu and the Philippines’ Marcos. However, the chronic lack of data has impeded a systematic comprehension of how these firms operate in the democracies they seek to influence.