Alex Vatanka, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., specializes in Middle Eastern affairs, focusing particularly on Iran. He was previously the editor of Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst.
The Iranian regime has sought to recast conventional principles of human rights and political participation by forging alliances with like-minded regimes and by broadcasting its narrative to an international audience.
In recent years, as leading authoritarian countries such as China, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela have become emboldened within the global arena, challenging the liberal international political order, the advanced democracies have retreated rather than responding to this threat.
