Sharpening sharp power: a reconceptualisation to understand foreign interference in non-liberal democratic states

This paper attempts to account for foreign interference in non-liberal democratic states where existing concepts of state influence cannot. Specifically, it argues for a conceptual expansion of sharp power by introducing the new sub-concept of indirect sharp power, where states with non-democratic institutions are externally manipulated into making choices that benefit the initiator. To validate the existence of various types of sharp power, the paper will undertake a comparative analysis of Chinese foreign interference in Australia and Singapore. In doing so, the paper elucidates how foreign interference materialises in illiberal states and finds that institutional structures of the target state are central to determining the type of sharp power it receives.Bachelor of Social Sciences in Public Policy and Global Affair