Foreign Interference Research Articles

How Financial Secrecy Undermines Democracy

Abstract: The expansion and sheer enormity of the financial-secrecy system is undermining democracy to an alarming extent. This system has distorted capitalism and its elites' relationship to taxation and the public realm to such an extent that powerful vested interests are now attached to a financial system that a) conceals kleptocracy, crime, and foreign interference, and b) exacerbates inequality to a degree unrecognized precisely because of the system's secrecy. The state of the public realm shows that capitalism with a secrecy system has become increasingly hard for a democratic polity to hold accountable. Understanding the architecture of the financial-secrecy system, one can identify how to conduct its deconstruction.

Rusty Weapons in a Digital Battlespace

This article explores the evolving landscape of foreign interference in domestic affairs, particularly in the context of ‘information operations’ facilitated by the internet. The primary focus of the article is on the lawful authority to respond to external information operations, and how this authority may be shaped by international law. Specifically, the article explores the royal prerogative in two manifestations — the war prerogative, and external affairs prerogative — as a potential source of authority. In doing so, the article employs an analytical framework by Winterton, distinguishing between the ‘breadth’ and ‘depth’ of constitutional executive power. The article acknowledges the limited case law and debates surrounding these prerogatives’ scope and triggers, and slight nuances between British and Australian jurisprudence. It discusses the relationship between the war prerogative and the existence of armed conflict and touches on how international law can support the exercise of the war prerogative through the ‘public policy test’. Drawing from international legal perspectives, the article references United Nations resolutions from 1976 and 1981 that emphasise the importance of domestic legal remedies against information operations. It stresses the duty of states to combat the dissemination of false or distorted news that interferes with other states’ internal affairs. In sum, the article concludes that, while countering IOs is a matter requiring domestic legal authority, international law can likely extend the ambit of the royal prerogative and should also, as a matter of public policy, apply to such campaigns.

An Individual as a Foreign Agent: The Legal Regulation

Foreign interference in Russia’s internal political processes is almost always disguised as the constitutional right of citizens to ideological diversity, forming public opinion, provoking panic, as well as influencing the attitude of society towards governmental authorities. The influence of individuals who form public opinion on the basis of their recognition and pseudo-authority has significantly increased. A large-scale spread of social networks has caused a dramatic increase in the popularity of artists, musicians, public figures, whose statements can encourage society to make certain decisions. The study is conducted in order to identify signs of foreign influence, as well as criteria for classifying individuals as foreign agents. Based on a comparative analysis of the legislation on foreign agents in Russia and the United States, the authors establish the conditions for the need to restrict the constitutional rights of citizens in order to maintain a balance of private and public interests. In the preparation of the article, formal and logical methods were used, as a result of which the authors analyze socio-legal phenomena that allowed to identify the relationship between increased foreign influence and consolidation of domestic legislation on foreign agents as a response. The authors come to the conclusion that in order for an individual to be acknowledged as a foreign agent under Russian law, three elements are needed: the presence of foreign influence, the participation of an individual in political activity and direct or indirect influence on state bodies or state policy. At the same time, the main problem of law enforcement is the distinction between real foreign agents and unpatriotic citizens who actively oppose the policy of the state, which can be used «blindly». In this regard, a wide application of the provisions of the Law on Foreign Agents is justified, and the assignment of the status of a foreign agent is subject to individualization.

Mitigating or exacerbating the root causes of violence?: critically analysing the role of USAID in terrorism prevention

ABSTRACT In 2009, a USAID-commissioned report examined the social, economic, and personal contexts that have incited political violence, such as military intervention, economic deprivation, the denial of civil rights, and repeated foreign interference. Although the report acknowledges how these formative contexts give rise to violence, the psychologising language of extremism has led to USAID’s development of antiterrorism approaches aimed at interrupting the psychological, cultural, and theological pathologies perceived to be located within individual actors, rather than the material conditions that incite armed resistance. This article explores how the concept of terrorist radicalisation has informed antiterrorism programming undertaken by the development sector and has exacerbated, not mitigated, the root causes of political violence in Somalia and the Somali diaspora. Given these outcomes, I offer concluding thoughts on how we might recentre the material conditions in which violence circulates to consider alternative approaches to violence prevention efforts in the development sector.

The Role of Foreign Intervention in Prolonging the Libyan Conflict in the Post-Gaddafi Period

ABSTRACT: This briefing evaluates the role of international intervention in prolonging the Libyan conflict, from financial, logistical, and military support. The briefing concludes that foreign interference interest was not necessarily the direct reason for protracting the Libyan conflict but played an essential role in strengthening the presence of the parties in the field. The regional countries showed different interests related to the Libyan conflict, including the interests of Egypt and the UAE, which harmonized with the eastern side led by Haftar’s forces ideologically in their hostility to political Islam. Conversely, the interests of Qatar and Turkey with the western side and political Islam contributed to supporting this party. Accordingly, the international intervention did not take a unified position, whether supporting conflict or peace. This led to the dispersion of international support between the conflicting parties, creating an imbalance of power to settle the conflict militarily. Moreover, some foreign parties tried to spoil the peace by biasing mediations such as the Skhirat Agreement and broadcasting their goals through internal spoilers, such as Haftar when he started the Tripoli war .

Deterrence Without Mutual Destruction

Abstract With openness comes vulnerability. David Sloss's new work, Tyrants on Twitter, elevates the abuse of social media by autocrats to a new war front, reminiscent of the concerns for foreign penetration during the Cold War. His response to this new round of “information warfare” is the mobilization of a transnational alliance of the 40 or so leading democratic countries to register citizens for use of social media and filter out tyrants and their fronts, be they real people or bots. The book begins by chronicling the extent of democratic decline, a well-defended starting point. More complicated is the argument that the correlation between democratic decline and foreign interference establishes the causal role of the latter. Even more difficult is the conclusion that there is need for war-like footing to mobilize against foreign threats. The review ends with a note of caution on the costs associated with democratic societies closing up in the face of foreign challenge.

Information manipulation and historical revisionism: Russian disinformation and foreign interference through manipulated history-based narratives.

Background: Disinformation and historical revisionism have been acknowledged as tools for foreign interference that belong to the landscape of hybrid threats. Historical revisionism plays an essential role in Russian foreign policy towards the post-Soviet space and is in strong relation with the concepts of Near Abroad and Russkii Mir ('Russian World') and with certain ideas contained in the neo-Eurasianist Movement. This article examines Russian revisionist narratives disseminated in information and influencing campaigns in Europe and against the West. Methods: This study uses a mixed methodology combining desk research, including literature review, and analysis of the EUvsDisinfo database of cases identified before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. R esults: The manipulation of historical events has been largely employed by the Kremlin as a tool for foreign interference to achieve strategic objectives. First World War treaties, mainly the Trianon Peace Treaty, as well as the Second World War and the communist and fascist historical experiences in countries within the post-Soviet space, are the pivotal topics from which hostile influencing narratives are built. From the analysis of the EUvsDisinfo database, the article identifies seven topic themes. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that pre-emptively elaborated counter-narratives based on historical evidence and sound historiography can be an effective tool against hostile revisionist narratives that exploit vulnerabilities and specific target groups within European societies.

Legal Basis for Unilateral Secession of Somaliland from Somalia

This article explores the legal basis for Somaliland’s unilateral secession from Somalia and whether it violates Somalia’s territorial integrity under international law. The article provides a brief history of Somaliland’s original independence and its subsequent union with Somalia. Following the collapse of the Somali government, Somaliland declared its secession from Somalia in 1991, while the southern region plunged into anarchy. The article examines the criteria for state recognition, with Somaliland fulfilling three of the four requirements. The article delves into the principles of self-determination, sovereignty, and territorial integrity under international law. Although the right to self-determination is fundamental, some experts argue that it does not apply to unilateral secession, as it is in conflict with territorial integrity. Conversely, others argue that self-determination promotes decolonisation and allows individuals to take part in local decision-making, including secession. The article also discusses the role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which considers customary law, and the principle of territorial integrity, which only prohibits foreign interference. Besides, this article provides an overview of the concept of recognition in relation to unilateral secession. It discusses the two main perspectives on recognition, constitutive and declaratory. The article examines several cases of state formation, including Eritrea, South Sudan, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union, and emphasises the importance of mutual consent in the creation of new states. In conclusion, the article provides an overview of the legal basis for Somaliland’s unilateral secession and the principles of self-determination, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. It examines the criteria for state recognition and the role of the ICJ, human rights advocates, and the Security Council in interventions. Ultimately, the recognition of a new state depends on political will, which can have a significant impact on the decision-making process.

Eutectic solvent-mediated synthesis of manganese molybdate nanosheets: Rapid and real-time electrochemical detection of p-methylaminophenol sulfate(metol)

The present study explores the design of MnMoO4 modified sensing platform for the electrochemical detection of metol. The green synthesis of MnMoO4 nanosheets was accomplished by a low-temperature deep eutectic solvents (DES) assisted hydrothermal protocol. According to structural and electrochemical studies, the large surface area and pore volume of the MnMoO4-based working electrode assembly provided a conduit for the anchoring of the target analytes. Under optimized electrochemical conditions, the modified sensor demonstrated an exceptionally low detection limit (LOD = 0.98 nM) with a sensitivity of 88.8 μA μM−1 cm−2 within a substantial linear working range from 0.01 to 375.6 μM by differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) technique. Benefiting from the significantly improved stability, sensitivity, and reproducibility, the proposed MnMoO4 electrocatalyst showed amplified current responses of metol. The possibility of metol detection without any foreign interference and % recovery between ±99.20–99.90 % opens up new prospects for the efficacious on-site detection of metol.

Does it Exist? LibertyWorks and Australia’s Shrinking Implied Freedom of Political Communication

In this article we examine the recent High Court decision in LibertyWorks Inc v Commonwealth of Australia (‘LibertyWorks’). We argue that this decision fails to properly apply the implied freedom of political communication (the ‘implied freedom’) in four principle ways. First, the majority judgments do not properly grapple with the complexities of legislative purpose. The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 (Cth) (‘FITS Act’) targets foreign influence rather than just covert and corrupt foreign interference, yet the judgements blur this important distinction throughout. If the true legislative purpose of the FITS Act is to increase transparency to prevent foreign influence, this purpose is illegitimate and incompatible with Australia’s representative government, so the FITS Act should fail on this basis. Alternatively, if the true purpose is to increase transparency to prevent foreign interference, that legislative purpose is not served by the scheme, because it is ineffective in achieving its aim. Second, the majority in LibertyWorks do not properly assess the legislative breadth of the FITS Act, including the wide range of actors to which the obligations to register relate. This, we suggest, imposes a broad and, arguably, unbalanced burden on free debate. Third, the majority do not pay sufficient regard to the different tiers of registration, which create not only public, but also private (and therefore unjustified) catalogues of information. Finally, Steward J’s constitutionally conservative (yet paradoxically activist) claim that the implied freedom may not exist appears to invite a future constitutional challenge to the implied freedom. We argue his Honour may be right, but not for the reasons he elucidates. In our view, the implied freedom was essentially non-existent in this case because it was not robustly applied by the High Court.

Anti-interference: redoubled focus of Chinese mainland’s Taiwan policy

International interference in cross-Taiwan Strait relations has accelerated in recent years. This article examines the intensifying, high-level, official interactions in which the US and some of its allies have worked with the Taiwan authorities to hollow out the one-China principle. This article also explores the escalating US–Taiwan military cooperation and the expanding security involvement of some states, which have disregarded Beijing’s heavy opposition and repeated warnings. Finally, this article explains the driving forces behind the internationalization trajectory involving the Taiwan issue and argues that the ever-increasing foreign intervention and involvement, combined with Taipei’s consistent endeavor to “pursue independence by reliance on foreign interference,” has put China on full alert. The internationalization momentum concerning the Taiwan issue has thus resulted in China redoubling the anti-interference focus of its Taiwan policy.

(Digital) Campaigning in Dissonant Public Spheres

ABSTRACTWith the advent of digital media and social media platforms, the speed of innovation and technology adoption in campaigns have increased tremendously. At the same time, the campaign environment and its rules are in constant flow, as platform logics, party operations, and voter alignments both reflect and create instability in many political systems. Additionally, disinformation, foreign interference in campaigns, hyper-partisan media ecologies, and hyperactive users have all created changes in opinion climates. In light of these developments, and building on the theoretical concept of increasingly disrupted and dissonant public spheres (developed by Barbara Pfetsch and Lance Bennett), this special issue seeks to expand research on campaigning beyond assumptions of well-functioning political systems, to better understand the erosion of institutional legitimacy and trust, and their effects on communication processes. The special issue is organized within two conceptual approaches. The first cluster of manuscripts observes how political candidates, organizations, and parties optimize their behaviour within the dissonant political environment. The second part examines responses, perceptions, and consequences of the disrupted environment on the public. Finally, four integrated forum essays look into how dissonant public spheres may disturb democratic processes, discuss the role of data-driven campaigning, and address how limited access to platform data affects our understanding of dissonant public spheres.

Europe’s New Chapter: Navigating the Future in a Shifting Global Landscape

The management of each of the crises that the European Union has been facing in the last decade has shown that individual national approaches lead to a chronic inability to make collective decisions on strategic issues and that this cannot be the future of a swiftly adaptive and geo-politically oriented Europe. The Future of Europe Conference offered the opportunity for European institutions to reconsider the relationship with Europe’s citizens, giving the public a direct voice through innovative participation in the democratic process. But we cannot allow ourselves to stop there, and leave it be a mere listening exercise.The next step is using those tools and the momentum around the conversation of Europe of tomorrow that had started with the Conference of the future of Europe to adapt the Union and its institutions to the necessities of the modern-day world. As European citizens, we need a strong European Union, capable of acting swiftly in a wide range of policy areas, from health and fiscal policy, energy procurement, and climate, to foreign affairs and defence. We need a powerful Europe on the global stage, able to keep its promises to those that aspire to become part of it. A Europe that can tackle new security and defence threats, and foreign interference and that can set new global standards for a clean environment while fighting unfair industrial competition. A Union, that stands up for rule of law and a responsive approach to migration

Haiti - Harmed at the Hands of Others

On January 1, 1804, Haiti officially proclaimed its Declaration of Independence, roughly two months after its forces led by Jean-Jacques Dessalines expelled the last remaining French forces from their territory. Their revolution had begun in 1791, when enslaved people sought to break free of brutal French colonial rule that originated in the mid-seventeenth century. The subsequent Haitian Constitution, published in 1805, detailed a “free and form sovereign state, independent of all the other powers of the universe,” known as the “Haitian Empire,” where “slavery is abolished forever” and “equality before the law is irrefutably established.” The future appeared bright for this newly independent Black nation in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, for Haiti and the Haitian people, this bright future was not to be. For the past two plus centuries, Haiti has been continuously disadvantaged and subjected to mistreatment by other nations, including France and the United States. The potential for Haiti to emerge as a prosperous nation has thus been quashed due to numerous cases of foreign interference, which are still ongoing today.

Falsehoods, Foreign Interference, and Compelled Speech in Singapore

AbstractOnline misinformation endangers the infrastructure of fact essential to public discourse and presents an even greater threat where it is being utilised as a weapon by hostile state actors. In recognition of these dangers, Singapore has implemented legal measures to combat online misinformation, enacting in quick succession the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) and the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA). These statutes open up novel frontiers of development for Singapore's free speech jurisprudence. Indeed, these statutes confer upon government authorities the power to compel the authors of certain material to display notices stating that the material contains falsehoods or originated from a hostile information campaign. Yet, should one accept that the constitutional right to freedom of speech extends to the freedom not to speak, the compulsion of such expressions may well be unconstitutional under Singapore's free speech guarantee. This article will study the theoretical justifications for a prohibition against compelled speech to evaluate whether Singapore free speech jurisprudence ought to recognise such a prohibition, propose a doctrinal framework to analyse compelled expressions by reference to US, UK, and Canadian jurisprudence, and critically assess how the POFMA and FICA would fare under such a doctrine.

Representation of Iranian Cybersecurity Policy in the National Media

The relevance of the research topic is due to the increased attention to the problems of cybersecurity in the modern world. The purpose of the study is to identify the position of the Iranian authorities on the issue of cybersecurity. The main method of research is the analysis of the content of the Iranian online versions of newspapers, news websites and news agencies publishing information on this topic in Persian and English. As a result of the conducted research, the main conclusion is made that the majority of Iranian information publications focus on the positive aspects of cybersecurity policy aimed at protection against foreign interference in Iran’s internal affairs. At the same time, the study revealed a number of publications that highlight not only the advantages of the Iranian government’s cybersecurity policy, but also shortcomings and gaps.

Targeted speech directions in Singapore

ABSTRACT As public discourse moves online, Singapore’s Government has increasingly begun to regulate online speech via the use of Targeted Speech Directions, which are issued against statements or communications deemed to amount to fake news or foreign interference. This article maps the law on Targeted Speech Directions in Singapore, touching on three issues – the consistency of these Directions with constitutional theories of free speech, the extent of judicial oversight available and the applicable evidential rules in challenges brought to these Directions – which bear materially on how these Directions are used and their influence on the future Singaporean public discourse.

New security requirements, oversight coming for scientists

A year ago, the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released guidelines designed to make academic research funding more transparent and less vulnerable to foreign interference. In 2023, many of the requirements, which stem from the National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33) during the administration of Donald J. Trump, will become reality for scientists and universities seeking federal funding. The first requirement will be new disclosure forms that agencies use to collect information about a principal investigator’s funding sources. The goal is to make those forms—the biographical sketch and a list of current or pending funding—the same across all federal research agencies. The standardization is intended to streamline work for scientists applying for grants and eliminate confusion about what they need disclose to the government. The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), which brings federal agencies together to work on common issues, put out a call for comment on

From Russia with fear: fear appeals and the patterns of cyber-enabled influence operations

Abstract Much research on influence operations (IO) and cyber-enabled influence operations (CEIO) rests on the assumption that state-backed digital interference attempts to generically produce sociopolitical division favorable to the perpetrator’s own interests. And yet, the empirical record of malicious IO during the 2010s show that social media manipulation and messaging takes a number of forms. In this article, we survey arguments regarding the targeting tactics and techniques associated with digital age IO and suggest that existing accounts tend to ignore the strategic context of foreign interference. We propose that state-sponsored IO are not unlike conventional political messaging campaigns in that they are an evolving flow of information rooted in several key objectives and assumptions. However, the strategic position of foreign actors as an outside force constrains opportunities for effective manipulation and forces certain operational constraints that shape practice. These outside actors, generally unable to create sensation from nothing without being unveiled, rely on domestic events tied to a broad macrosocial division (e.g. an act of race violence or protest activity) to create the conditions wherein social media manipulation can be leveraged to strategic gain. Once an event occurs, belligerents tailor steps being taken to embed themselves in relevant social networks with the goal of turning that influence toward some action. We illustrate and validate this framework using the content of the Russian Federation’s coordinated trolling campaign against the USA between 2015 and 2016. We deploy an empirical testing approach centered on fear appeals as a likely method for engaging foreign populations relative to some domestic triggering event and find support of our framework. Specifically, we show that while strong associations exist between Russian ad emissions on Facebook and societal unrest in the period, those relationships are not statistically causal. We find a temporal ordering of social media content that is highly suggestive of a fear appeals strategy responsive to macrosocial dividing events. Of unique interest, we also see that malware is targeted to social media populations at later stages of the fear appeal threat lifecycle, implying lessons for those specifically interested in the relationship between CEIO and disinformation tactics.

Foreign interference in electoral processes as a factor of international politics: Mechanisms and counteraction

The relevance of the study is conditioned by the need to better understand the mechanisms and ways of foreign interference in electoral processes in North America and Europe. This is necessary to develop effective measures to counter attempts to undermine democratic processes and improve them in accordance with the challenges of the digital media era. The purpose of the study is to analyse the current policy of China and the Russian Federation in the sphere of influence on electoral processes in democratic countries, to analyse possible measures to counteract this interference. The following methods were used in the study: heuristic, induction, synthesis, abstract and logical. According to the results of the study, electoral processes in North America and European countries are subject to constant interference from China and Russia, since each of these countries has its own motives for dismantling democracy in these countries. There is an increase in these manipulations due to digitalisation processes. Based on the results of the analysis of manipulation mechanisms, a classification of the types of interference of these states in electoral processes is developed, in particular, three main scenarios of such influence and five types of interference are indicated. It is determined that Russia mostly resorts to manipulating information, implementing the concepts of “post-truth”, and China – to subversive activities in society. There are many measures in both the EU and the US to counter such interference, but most of these measures consist of exposing the interference, spreading such information to the public, and taking technological action. It is concluded that the defence of democracy should be based solely on open and democratic ways of countering foreign interference, and the violation of citizens’ rights will only further undermine faith in democratic values. It is concluded that countering interference in electoral processes, first of all, should be based on informing citizens about the risks of manipulation, media literacy, critical thinking, and readiness for constant political activity. The practical significance of this study is that it will help in developing a strategy for countering foreign interference in democratic processes