Democratic Vulnerability and Autocratic Meddling

Mika Aaltola is Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Finland, and Professor of International Relations at Tallinn University, Estonia. His previous books include Sowing the Seeds of Sacred: Political Religion of American Era (2008), Western Spectacles of Governance and the Emergence of Humanitarian World Order (2009), Understanding the Politics of Pandemic Scares (2012), and Challenge of Global Commons and Flows for US Power (2016). His current research focuses on understanding the impact of current ideational, cognitive, and technological flows on global order and power.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. The Thucydidean Brink.- 3. Grim Pull of American Democratic Vulnerability.- 4. Russian Cyber-enabled Diversions in the West.- 5. Pattern of Meddling in 2016 US Elections.- 6. Stages of Digitalized regressive Meddling.- 7. Crowdsourced Meddling and Flow-State.- 8. Contrast Point: The Chinese Recruitment Web.- 9. Covid-19 Pandemic Deepening Regressive Trajectories.