"Authoritarian practices are not strictly limited to authoritarian states; they are employed by regimes that span the political spectrum. The research approach argues for expanding the understanding of key authoritarian strategies to include persuasion alongside coercion and cooptation, which are identified in academic literature as key approaches to consolidating power and building stability in authoritarian states. States are not only restricting access to information technologies, but are also actively investing in technologies of control, as well as shaping media ecosystems. States employ a range of strategies that often work in combination, such as: restricting information access, targeting expression, and pushing narratives. State opacity about the extent of their repressive capacities is a feature, not a bug. This allows states to make claims about their capabilities that create fear and distrust even if inaccurate or untrue. The combined use of information technologies to surveil, censor, and shape information ecosystems aid in “preventative repression,” making resistance and opposition more difficult and costly. Policy recommendations to help resist authoritarian practices face the complicated challenge of how to regulate dual-use and surveillance technologies that were developed for security and commercial applications, but that also facilitate authoritarian practices. There is an active debate about whether surveillance for commercial or consumer purposes, border controls and policing is mostly or inherently authoritarian in practice." (Summary of observations, page 6-7)