Democracies Are Scrambling to Respond as Transnational Repression Worsens

(Joshua Kurlantzick – Council on Foreign Relations) In a world seemingly in chaos, where the rule of law often appears to be breaking down, it is hardly surprising that transnational repression is skyrocketing. The practice—when a government reaches beyond its own borders to silence, harass, harm, or kill critics, dissidents, and members of diaspora communities living abroad—is now documented in 107 countries. In a recent comprehensive report, the monitoring group Freedom House counted 126 new incidents of physical transnational repression in 2025, bringing the total in its database to 1,375 cases since 2014. Those are only the cases that someone has actually confirmed physical incidents with paper trails. The true number of incidents is likely much higher. China, which has racked up 319 documented incidents since 2014, remains the world’s most prolific practitioner of transnational repression, and it is not close. Democracies are struggling to respond to the rising tide of transnational repression. They are especially challenged as the Iran war has divided many leading democracies, and as other forms of collaboration between the United States and its partners are floundering. – Democracies Are Scrambling to Respond as Transnational Repression Worsens | Council on Foreign Relations