With Galina Selivanova, Susanne Bygnes and Laura Innocenti

Research on transnational repression looks at how authoritarian regimes extend their control beyond their borders in order to monitor and silence dissidents living in other countries. Traditionally, scholars have focused on such repression strategies from a ‘top-down’ perspective, analysing the tactics and mechanisms used by regimes to control their populations overseas. In this presentation, we take a ‘bottom-up’ approach, examining how exiled activists perceive transnational repression and devise strategies to resist it. We compare the experiences of Russian civil society actors in democratic states, such as Germany, with those in non-democratic or hybrid regimes that have historically closer ties to Russia, such as Georgia and Armenia.  

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, this exiled civil society has emerged as a vocal representation of an 'other’ Russia, challenging the regime's legitimacy from abroad. However, as domestic repression has intensified, the Kremlin has expanded its efforts to target and intimidate critics overseas, blurring the boundary between internal and external coercion. During the presentation, we will draw on 20 semi-structured interviews to explore individual perceptions of threat in depth, as well as organisational strategies of resilience and resistance. 

This presentation is a part of pilot study supported by the German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF). 

(All are members of the ERDAM Research Network) 

• Speaker: Galina Selivanova, postdoctoral researcher at the Distance-Learning University in Hagen   
• Comments: Susanne Bygnes, Professor of Sociology at the University of Bergen (TBC) 
• Moderator: Laura Innocenti, PhD researcher at the University of Mainz 

Registration