Sharp power seeks to exploit the openness of free societies because their institutions are open.

Christopher Walker

Christopher Walker, a leading expert on authoritarian influence, returns to the origins of the concept of "sharp power," a term he helped develop to distinguish coercive and manipulative forms of influence from Joseph Nye’s idea of soft power. While soft power relies on attraction and persuasion, Walker explains that sharp power instead works by penetrating democratic institutions, restricting debate, and shaping narratives in ways that undermine openness. The conversation situates this concept within a broader shift in global politics, where expectations of democratic expansion after the Cold War have given way to a more contested and authoritarian-influenced world.

The Democracy Paradox is made in partnership with the Kellogg Institute of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. 

Read the full transcript here.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• The Origins of Sharp Power - 2:51
• How Sharp Power Works - 11:29
• Do Democracies Use Sharp Power? 21:15
• Sharp Power in the Current Geopolitical Moment - 30:32

Links

Learn more about Christopher Walker.

Learn more about the Kellogg Institute.

Register for the 2026 Global Democracy Conference at the University of Notre Dame.

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