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The TRP hosted the second of its spring 2025 webinar series on May 27th, "Transnational Repression & Non-State Actors" with Rasha Abdul-Rahim, John Heathershaw, and Edward Lemon as featured panelists. This session included expert discussion on:
John Heathershaw is Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter. His research addresses conflict, security, and development in authoritarian political environments, especially in Central Asia. He is co-author of Dictators Without Borders (Yale, 2017), The UK’s Kleptocracy Problem (Chatham House, 2021), Indulging Kleptocracy (Oxford, 2025) and principal investigator on several research projects on the transnational networks of postcommunist elites. In 2021/22, John was a senior fellow of the British Academy studying relations between these elites and British professional service providers. From 2015-2020, he led the Central Asian Political Exiles project which produced an original database of transnational repression by governments against their citizens overseas. Edward Lemon is Research Assistant Professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University in Washington DC. His research focuses on the global dynamics of authoritarianism, in particular transnational repression. He is co-author of the forthcoming book Backlash: China's Struggle for Influence in Central Asia (Hurst, 2025). His research on transnational repression has been published by Globalizations, Journal of Democracy, European Journal of International Security, Political Research Exchange and Diaspora. Rasha Abdul Rahim is a strategist, and independent expert on technology, human rights and social justice issues. She is also currently the Interim Executive Director of People vs Big Tech, a movement of over 140 organisations in Europe fighting to overturn the predatory business model of Big Tech corporations and change the internet for good. Before that, Rasha spent 15 years at Amnesty International in various roles, and was the Director of Amnesty Tech from 2020-2024, where she oversaw global research, campaigning, advocacy and policy development on various tech issues, including Big Tech accountability, unlawful targeted surveillance, establishing new programmes on AI and human rights and children’s digital rights. She also co-led the award-winning Pegasus Project in collaboration with Forbidden Stories, a groundbreaking global investigation which exposed the scale of abuse of Pegasus spyware. Before specialising in technology and human rights, she worked on arms control and played a central role in Amnesty International's campaign to secure the landmark Arms Trade Treaty. Rasha holds a Masters in Modern and Medieval Languages from Cambridge University, a Masters in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS and a law degree from BPP Law School. Are you an emerging researcher in the field of transnational repression? One resource the TRP seeks to provide is mentorship for younger scholars doing research on transnational repression. If you would like to present your work and receive feedback from scholars in the field, please fill out the interest form below and we can arrange for an interactive workshop with discussants. This is an opportunity to present your research and receive constructive feedback from experts. This unique experience allows participants to refine conceptual and methodological approaches, enhance presentation skills, and connect with the broader academic community in the field.
Please complete the form to register for the workshop. We will be back in touch after reviewing the submitted information. The TRP hosted the first of its spring 2025 webinar series on February 25th, "Introducing the Transnational Repression Project: A Discussion of Subconcepts & Data," with Rebecca Cordell and Dana Moss as featured panelists. This conversation covered a wide range of important and relevant topics, including:
Rebecca Cordell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on human rights and state repression. She is particularly interested in why countries cooperate in transnational repression, measuring human rights using machine learning and text analysis, and examining public opinion and human rights. Rebecca's research is published in International Interactions, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Human Rights, and Journal of Peace Research.
Dana Moss is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Her research and teaching focus on power and resistance, including the transnational repression of diaspora and refugee communities by authoritarian regimes. Her award-winning book, The Arab Spring Abroad: Diaspora Activism Against Authoritarian Regimes (Cambridge, 2022) explains the emergence and impacts of anti-regime diaspora mobilization during the 2011 uprising in Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Her current research focuses on how members of the military resist participating in violence during wartime. |
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