Transnational Repression: International Cooperation in Silencing Dissent

• In Event: Making and Breaking the International Social Contract Protecting Human Rights

Abstract

Why do some states assist other countries to reach across national borders and repress their diaspora and exile communities, while others do not? Transnational repression involves host countries (many of whom are established democracies) working closely with origin states (typically autocracies) to transfer individuals into their custody and silence dissent. We expect international cooperation on transnational repression to rely on a host country’s domestic rule of law and economic ties to the origin state. To measure international cooperation on transnational repression, we present new data containing 608 direct physical cases of transnational repression from 2014-2020 involving 160 unique country-dyads (79 host countries and 31 origin states). We test our hypotheses using a dataset of 210,714 directed dyad-years and find mixed support for our theoretical argument. Autocracies are better able to elicit cooperation on human rights violations from states that have shared economic interests. Whereas the of law appears to have little effect. Our findings contribute to the debate in international relations literature on economic civil-liberties trade-offs and have policy implications for civil society activists that seek to prevent governments from committing future human rights abuses on foreign nationals living abroad.

Authors

• Rebecca Elizabeth Cordell, University of Pittsburgh

• Kashmiri Medhi, The University of Texas at Dallas