Populist Sharp Power: How the World Entered in a New Cold War

Margaret Canovan states that populism accompanies democracy as a shadow, but populism does not emerge only in democratic countries. It also appears in populist totalitarian and authoritarian regimes that control civil society through censorship, misinformation and fake news inside their countries while, at the same time, they try to increase their influence beyond their borders. Over time, Diplomacy, as a tool of Foreign Policy, has counted on a soft and a hard power to protect the interests of each country. The former type uses positive attraction and persuasion to achieve foreign policy goals. The latter modality uses coercion, both at the military and economic levels. However, nowadays the third form of power has been emerging, the sharp power, using falsified and manipulated information to influence domestic and external political processes. Populist regimes are the major ones responsible for this cyberterrorism and China and Russia have become the main actors in the world arena. At a time when Russia is using hard power to invade Ukraine, but also sharp power to influence domestic and foreign public opinion, this chapter analyzes the revival of the Cold War seen as a threat to representative democracy and the new world order.