16 February 2024

STRATEGIC PROPAGANDA: China’s Role in Democratic-Backsliding in Latin America and the Caribbean

Streamed live 16 hours ago

Join the CSIS Americas Program for the launch of a new report assessing China's role in democratic backsliding observed in Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by an in-depth expert discussion on democracy, autocracy, and the evolving role of China in the Western Hemisphere. China’s mounting influence in Latin America and the Caribbean has been the subject of study and consternation in U.S. policy circles for well over a decade. An especially concerning area of research in this regard has been the possibility that Chinese economic, diplomatic, security, and political activities within the region could be contributing to the democratic backsliding witnessed in recent decades. However, the precise mechanisms through which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) may or may not exacerbate LAC’s ongoing democratic regression have been insufficiently studied. This report seeks to more fully enumerate the nature of China’s impact on democracy in LAC. It finds that China contributes directly to democratic backsliding by propagating its model of authoritarian governance through its soft power engagements in media, education, and people-to-people diplomacy, as well as by protecting regimes undergoing democratic backsliding with economic and diplomatic support even as these governments become increasingly isolated from the rest of the international system. The event will unpack the findings of the report, and delve deeper into the full spectrum of China's engagement, and the consequences for LAC and the United States alike. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A nonpartisan institution, CSIS is the top national security think tank in the world. Visit www.csis.org to find more of our work as we bring bipartisan solutions to the world's greatest challenges.