Extraterritorial Authoritarian Practices

This paper considers extraterritorial authoritarian practices by state agents of states generally considered autocratic as well as formally democratic states. First, it discusses the extraterritorial reach of authoritarian states through a spectrum of measures, ranging from subtle forms of control over students abroad to spectacular killings of perceived enemies of the state. Based on original data as well as existing data from the Central Asian political exiles (CAPE) database, the chapter documents, and compares characteristics of, cases from at least ten different regimes in the last 20 years. Most regimes use spectacular extraterritorial repression only sporadically. But that does not make it less functional: as the chapter will illustrate, even a single case can have chilling effects on regime critics and opponents, at home and abroad, as well as on broader diaspora communities. Secondly, the paper will show how states that are generally considered as liberal democracies may engage in authoritarian practices in their dealings with non-citizens beyond their borders. It will focus on two cases: the offshore alien detention practices of Australia, and the dealings of the British division of the Stabilisation Force Iraq (SFIR, 2003-2005) with the inhabitants of Basra.