Brown Bag Lecture Series: Ensuring Non-Interference, Maintaining Resilient Democracy: Contemporary Challenges in Legislation on Countering Covert Foreign Influence

Nowadays, legislation on countering foreign interference is a double-edged sword--it is successfully used by autocratic and illiberal actors to suppress dissent, while at the same time being developed by many democratic actors as a tool to protect against malicious foreign influence. At times, the rhetoric used by proponents of this legislation on both sides is difficult to distinguish, and its potential risks lie in the details. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss pressing challenges related to the development of legislation on countering foreign interference and, drawing on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the expert opinions of the Venice Commission, to attempt to answer the question of how democracies can protect themselves from covert, malicious foreign influence without compromising their resilience.

Talk by Maxim Krupskiy