China's challenge / Andrew J. Nathan -- Forward to the past in Russia / Lilia Shevtsova -- Iran's paradoxical regime / Abbas Milani -- Iran abroad / Alex Vatanka -- Autocratic legalism in Venezuela / Javier Corrales -- Saudia Arabia's anxious autocrats / Frederic Wehrey -- Countering democratic norms / Alexander Cooley -- Election monitoring vs. disinformation / Patrick Merloe -- The Leninist roots of civil society repression / Anne Applebaum -- Civil society under assault / Douglas Rutzen -- The Kremlin's information war / Peter Pomerantsev -- China's foreign propaganda machine / Anne-Marie Brady -- Cyberspace under siege / Ron Deibert -- Dealing with the authoritarian resurgence / Christopher Walker.