Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a welcome ceremony for Putin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 25, 2016. Editorial Credit: Kyodo News Stills via Getty Images.

Authoritarian Reach

The world’s authoritarian regimes understand that domestic repression alone will not ensure their survival. Over the past two decades, they have extended their influence beyond their own borders in an attempt to silence critics, subvert democratic governments, and reshape international norms and institutions to serve their own interests.

Understanding Transnational Repression

Transnational Repression report cover collage

New Report: Out of Sight, Not Out of Reach

Dozens of governments around the world systemically employ violence against exiles and diasporas, reaching beyond national borders to silence dissent.

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Explainer Video

Hear from victims and learn more about the dangerous threat of transnational repression.

Rwanda transnational repression case study

Country Case Studies

These are six countries that currently operate aggressive campaigns of transnational repression: China, Turkey, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iran.

The world’s authoritarian regimes understand that domestic repression alone will not ensure their survival. Over the past two decades, they have extended their influence beyond their own borders in an attempt to silence critics, subvert democratic governments, and reshape international norms and institutions to serve their own interests.

Freedom House’s current work on authoritarian reach has two main areas: transnational repression, and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) information influence abroad.

Freedom House is a leading authority on transnational repression, or the targeting of exiles and diasporas by the state they left behind. Freedom House mapped the global scale and scope of transnational repression in its 2021 report Out of Sight, Not Out of Reach. Its current research on transnational repression focuses on how host states can better protect exiles and diasporas within their borders through reforms in law enforcement, security services, and migration.

Freedom House has been closely monitoring Chinese Communist Party information influence for over a decade through the China Media Bulletin and a series of special reports, including the 2020 Beijing’s Global Megaphone. Freedom House is expanding this research through a new project on Beijing’s Global Media Influence. The project will document how the CCP, Chinese state media, and related actors exert influence on media and news consumption in 30 countries worldwide, as well as the degree of local resilience to the covert, corrupt, and coercive dimensions of Beijing’s information influence.