RevDem Podcast · Review of Democracy

Exiles and Diasporas in the Crosshairs of Authoritarian States – Nate Schenkkan on the Rise of Transnational Repression and What Can Be Done to Counter It

·47 min·3 clips

Transnational repression ranges from murder and kidnappings to hacked phones, spyware, and family intimidation.

Krzysztof Sombaty introduces Nate Schenken and the article that anchors the conversation. The focus is transnational repression, meaning state power reaching beyond a country's own borders. The opening question sets that against the more familiar picture of repression inside national territory. Schenken explains why that older frame is no longer enough, and why exile does not necessarily put critics out of reach. The conversation then turns to the wider international order. Sombaty asks whether weakening human rights architecture gives this kind of abuse more room. Schenken answers carefully. He is not ready to say the order is collapsing, or already gone. He does think the ground is shifting. He sees steady pressure on human rights norms around the world, and says the deeper danger may be simple disregard rather than an open attack. A norm that gets ignored enough stops working like a norm at all. The exchange then moves toward response. The host asks what can be done to protect targets. Schenken treats the challenge as both political and technical. He points to the need for ways to defend people who are already being pursued across borders. He also notes that states have strong incentives to keep doing this because the tools are relatively cheap from their perspective. Spyware and related systems are not a major budget line for governments. That makes the abuse scalable. Even a moderately resourced state can target a small set of high-value diaspora critics. Schenken says that is likely to continue as technology develops. The tone stays restrained throughout. The argument moves step by step rather than chasing a slogan. By the end, the episode has moved from definition to diagnosis to the hard problem of defense. It leaves the listener with the sense that transnational repression is not an edge case. It is part of how authoritarian states are adapting. The interview also suggests that international norms can still matter if they are maintained and strengthened. It does not promise an easy fix. It does insist that the issue deserves more attention than it usually gets. The final note is cautiously forward-looking. Schenken suggests that diasporas may yet catch up defensively, even if the offensive tools keep getting better.

As heard by us

A clear, unsettling look at how governments can target critics across borders.

This conversation looks at transnational repression with a steady, plainspoken eye. It keeps the focus on what happens when states reach beyond their borders to silence critics, and it does the useful work of tying human rights principles to the practical reality of spyware and…

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Why you'd press play

Follow the logic of transnational repression, from state targeting to spyware.

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