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These despotic regimes employ tools which give the illusion of democracy without ceding any real political power to the citizenry. All of these despotic regimes consider themselves democracies of some sort (Russian ‘managed democracy’ or Chinese ‘peoples’ democracy’) and ground their authority in the sovereignty of their citizens, whilst proclaiming their version of democracy as superior to the traditional western concept. He noted that these despotic regimes are entangled, not only financially and politically, but also ideologically in seeking to undermine the established global order of the rule of law and democracy. Rising global powers such as Russia and China, and many smaller countries like Turkey, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan, all share similarities that distinguish them from more customary labels such as totalitarian, authoritarian or dictatorial. On Tuesday 14th May Professor John Keane of the University of Sydney spoke to the Institute about the rise of new political regimes threatening established, power-sharing democracies around the world, best described by an old term, despotism.