Overview

Editors:

• Arild Engelsen Ruud1

1. Mubashar Hasan

Adjunct Research Fellow, Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI), Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

1. Arild Engelsen Ruud

Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

• This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

• Transnational repression impacting both exiles and their host countries, urging urgent understanding

• This book sheds light on lesser-known, non-physical transnational repression tactics

• Collection’s diverse pieces, ensure this book’s relevance to journalists, policymakers, scholars, and activists

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About this book

Against the backdrop of rising authoritarianism, this open access edited volume investigates how states—small and large, strong and weak—silence critics across borders. This focus on transnational authoritarianism is underexplored in scholarship, and even more so for states in South and Southeast Asia—which many of our cases draw from. While NGO reports, including those by Freedom House, have exposed physical attacks, they rarely address subtler methods used to target exiles. Drawing on analyses and interviews with those directly familiar with these dynamics, the collection examines tactics such as digital surveillance, emotional blackmail, enforced family isolation, psychological harassment, imprisonment of relatives on fabricated charges, and harassment of family businesses through surprise audits. These non-physical measures can be as effective as physical attacks, yet often evade media attention. The goal of transnational authoritarianism is clear: silence exiled critics, restrict alternative information, and shape global opinion. This collection reveals the long reach of strongmen regimes and their determination to control narratives at home and abroad.

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

Front Matter

Pages i-xiv 1.

Introduction

• Mubashar Hasan, Arild Engelsen Ruud

Pages 1-16Open Access 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1.

Afterword

• Phil Robertson

Pages 207-216Open Access 1.

Back Matter

Pages 217-219

Editors and Affiliations

Adjunct Research Fellow, Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI), Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

Mubashar Hasan

Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Arild Engelsen Ruud

About the editors

Mubashar Hasan is Adjunct Researcher at the Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI), Western Sydney University, Australia. He also works for the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) and the Diplomacy Training Program and is the author of Islam and Politics in Bangladesh and co-editor of Masks of Authoritarianism, with numerous journal articles.

Arild Engelsen Ruud, a Professor of South Asia studies at the University of Oslo, focuses on democracy and politics in South and Southeast Asia. He is co-author of Mafia Raj: the rule of bosses in South Asia (Stanford University Press) and co-editor of South Asian Sovereignties, Outrage, and Masks of Authoritarianism and author of numerous journal articles He is now leading the Norwegian Research Council funded project ‘Leadership and popular participation in Asian democracies’.

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Bibliographic Information

Book Title: The Long Reach of the Strong Arm: Evolving Forms of Transnational Authoritarianism

Editors: Mubashar Hasan, Arild Engelsen Ruud

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-04940-7

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)

Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2026

Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-032-04939-1Published: 24 December 2025

Softcover ISBN: 978-3-032-04942-1Due: 07 January 2027

eBook ISBN: 978-3-032-04940-7Published: 23 December 2025

Edition Number: 1

Number of Pages: XIV, 219

Number of Illustrations: 6 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour

Topics: [International Relations Theory](https://link.springer.com/search?facet-sub-discipline=International Relations Theory&facet-content-type=Book), [International Security Studies](https://link.springer.com/search?facet-sub-discipline=International Security Studies&facet-content-type=Book)

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