Social:Transnational authoritarianism
Transnational authoritarianism represents any effort to prevent acts of political dissent against an authoritarian state by targeting one or more existing or potential members of its emigrant or diaspora communities.[1][2]
Freedom House details the extensive use of a number of actors; principally countries governed by authoritarian states are known to engage in transnational repression of dissident and diaspora communities abroad. The most prolific actors involved in this activity, according to their most recent report, are the governments of China, Turkey, Russia, Egypt, and Tajikistan. Other nations noted with concern include Iran, Rwanda, and Saudi Arabia.[3]
A range of states engage in these actions, including assassinations and/or forced disappearances of Chinese and Hong Kong citizens abroad. It has been noted that the use of transnational authoritarianism by a number of countries is rising across the world.[4]
Political scientists have identified that autocracies face specific challenges and opportunities in the international sphere that affect authoritarian practices. Specifically, the rise of transnationalism and practices that transcend national borders has led autocracies to develop strategies aiming to manage their citizens' migration.[5] According to political scientist Gerasimos Tsourapas, global autocracies engage in complex strategies of transnational repression, legitimation, and co-optation as well as cooperation with non-state actors.[6] Sociologist Dana M. Moss has argued for a typology of transnational authoritarianism,[7] as described below:
Typology of transnational authoritarianism
| Lethal retribution | The actual or attempted assassinations of dissidents abroad by regime agents or proxies. |
| Threats | Verbal or written warnings directed to members of the diaspora, including the summoning of individuals by regime officials to their embassies for this purpose. |
| Surveillance | The gathering and sending of information about co-nationals to the state security apparatus by informant networks composed of regime agents, loyalists, and coerced individuals. |
| Exile | The direct and indirect banishment of dissidents from the home country, including when the threat of physical confinement and harm prevents activists from returning. |
| Withdrawing scholarships | The rescinding of students’ state benefits for refusing to participate in regime-mandated actions or organizations abroad. |
| Proxy punishment | The harassment, physical confinement, and/or bodily harm of relatives in the home-country as a means of information-gathering and retribution against dissidents abroad. |
See also
- Interpol § Abusive requests for Interpol arrests
- Chinese police overseas service stations
- Conspiracy against rights
- Russian assassinations
- Edward Snowden § Criminal charges
- Julian Assange
References
- ↑ Tsourapas, Gerasimos (2019). "A Tightening Grip Abroad: Authoritarian Regimes Target Their Emigrant and Diaspora Communities". https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/authoritarian-regimes-target-their-emigrant-and-diaspora-communities.
- ↑ Baser, Bahar; Ozturk, Ahmet Erdi (2020-07-02). "Positive and Negative Diaspora Governance in Context: From Public Diplomacy to Transnational Authoritarianism". Middle East Critique 29 (3): 319–334. doi:10.1080/19436149.2020.1770449. ISSN 1943-6149. https://doi.org/10.1080/19436149.2020.1770449.
- ↑ "Defending Democracy in Exile" (in en). https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression.
- ↑ "Out of Sight, Not Out of Reach" (in en). https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression.
- ↑ Brand, Laurie A. (2006-02-27). Citizens Abroad: Emigration and the State in the Middle East and North Africa (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511491498. ISBN 978-0-521-85805-2. OCLC 967481251.
- ↑ Tsourapas, Gerasimos (2021). "Global Autocracies: Strategies of Transnational Repression, Legitimation, and Co-Optation in World Politics" (in en). International Studies Review 23 (3): 616–644. doi:10.1093/isr/viaa061.
- ↑ Moss, Dana M. (2016-09-19). "Transnational Repression, Diaspora Mobilization, and the Case of The Arab Spring". Social Problems 63 (4): 480–498. doi:10.1093/socpro/spw019. ISSN 0037-7791.
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