How were the various categories of coverage selected?

The selec­tion cri­te­ria were based on assess­ing the mag­ni­tude of the threat posed by each enti­ty to demo­c­ra­t­ic nations. This assess­ment con­sid­ered the nature of their influ­ence activ­i­ties and the resources avail­able to them. Major state actors such as Rus­sia, Chi­na, and Iran are indi­vid­u­al­ly cat­e­go­rized due to their promi­nent and active roles in glob­al influ­ence oper­a­tions. The “Oth­er States” cat­e­go­ry includes addi­tion­al coun­tries like Turkey, Qatar, and North Korea, which also par­tic­i­pate in these activ­i­ties, albeit with vary­ing scopes and inten­si­ties. Fur­ther­more, the inclu­sion of trans­ac­tion­al net­works such as the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood and the Glob­al Nation­al Con­ser­v­a­tive Alliance (GNCA) high­lights less­er-known but rapid­ly emerg­ing groups that affect glob­al politics.