Transnational Repression in the Age of Globalisation - (Edinburgh Studies on Diasporas and Transnationalism) by Dana Moss & Saipira Furstenberg

About the Book

Bringing together leading scholars, this volume is the first of its kind to address the growing global phenomenon of transnational repression - using tactics that include surveillance, coercion, harassment and physical violence - in a comparative perspective.

Book Synopsis

Bringing together leading scholars, this volume is the first of its kind to address the growing global phenomenon of transnational repression in a comparative perspective. Authoritarian regimes in places like China, Russia and Saudi Arabia are infamous for cracking down on domestic opposition movements and democracy activists at home. And, in our age of globalisation, migration and technological development, dictators are increasingly able to extend their authoritarian power over their critics abroad. Using tactics that include surveillance, coercion, harassment and physical violence, transnational repression threatens the lives of democracy defenders, the basic rights of diaspora members and the rule of law in host states.

Review Quotes

In the 21st century, transnational repression threatens human rights protections, democracy, the rule of law and state sovereignty all across the globe. This book is truly one of a kind: it brings together an array of experts and provides an unparalleled comparative, global and systematic analysis of this complex phenomenon.

--Francesca Lessa, University College London

This fascinating collection explores transnational repression in all its regions and varieties, from online harassment to extraterritorial assassinations. It reveals both the weaknesses and strengths of states which are both made vulnerable to and fight back against globalisation. The book demonstrates how strong democracies and the institutions of the putative liberal international order have become unwitting or wilful perpetrators of transnational repression. However, it is most fascinating when discussing the role of non-state actors including self-censorship and policing within diasporas themselves. This outstanding new book is essential reading for students and researchers of authoritarianism, globalisation and international security.

--John D. Heathershaw, University of Exeter

About the Author

Dana M. Moss, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame (USA) and a Faculty Fellow at Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Research. To date, her research focuses primarily on collective action, state repression, authoritarianism, transnationalism, diasporas, and the Middle Eastern region. Her award-winning book, The Arab Spring Abroad: Diaspora Activism Against Authoritarian Regimes (Cambridge University Press, 2022), investigates how and to what extent anti-regime diaspora activists in the US and Britain mobilized to support the 2011 uprisings in Libya, Syria and Yemen. Her work has been published in a variety of venues, including the American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Social Problems, Mobilization: An International Journal, and Comparative Migration Studies.

Saipira Furstenberg, PhD, is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Cofund Research Fellow, at Ca' Foscari, University of Venice. Her project examines host states' responses to transnational repression. Saipira gained her PhD in Political Science from the University of Bremen in 2017. Prior to joining the University of Venice, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Portsmouth and a Research Associate at the University of Exeter. Her research examines international dimensions of authoritarian regimes, state repression, and human rights. Her work on transnational repression has been published in several leading journals, including European Journal of International Security, Journal of Conflict Resolution and The International Journal of Human Rights.