Transnational repression, understood as the extraterritorial repressive actions by states against members of their national community abroad, has become a global phenomenon. Several trends and developments, including cross-border migration, technological advances, and democratic backsliding, suggest that acts of transnational repression are likely to increase further in the future. Importantly, transnational repression is not exclusively driven by autocracies: Liberal states also contribute to those challenges when they question the legitimacy of international institutions or when they engage in outright acts of transnational repression themselves. Covering more than a dozen countries from both the Global North and the Global South, this volume explores transnational repression along three dimensions. First, what are the motives for states to engage in transnational repression (the 'why')? Second, what instruments and tactics do states employ when engaging in acts of transnational repression (the 'how')? Third, what are the implications and consequences of transnational repression (the 'so what')?

‘This hair-raising volume documents today's ‘golden age of transnational repression' in which repressive states reach across borders to spy on, intimidate, harass on-line, extradite, and murder their own citizens who they consider regime opponents.  Not limited to the actions of outright authoritarian regimes, this toolkit of nefarious practices is increasingly used by backsliding semi-democracies, and pushback against it is weak. This broad and detailed stocktaking by a stellar cast of prominent experts is a crucial first step in planning and mobilizing resistance to such practices.'

Jack Snyder - Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations, Columbia University