Transnational repression, i.e., the deliberate targeting of refugees and dissidents by states across borders, is a relatively understudied subject in international relations. This article analyzes why states act together to persecute political opponents abroad and explains variations in such practices. It proposes a theory of cooperation in transnational repression and uses the case study of Operation Condor in the 1970s to test it. Through Operation Condor, South American authoritarian states willingly forewent key aspects of their sovereignty to establish a sophisticated system of cooperation to target dissidents abroad. This scheme was a critical extension of these countries’ domestic-level policies of repression against political opposition and enabled them to target politically active refugees wherever they were located. Exiles were perceived as constituting an existential threat to these autocracies’ survival, given their ability to potentially undermine both their internal and external regime security, which therefore warranted their elimination. We draw on an interdisciplinary methodology, which combines archival research, interviews, trial observation, and the analysis of legal verdicts, alongside conclusions derived from our novel dataset, the Database on South America's Transnational Human Rights Violations (1969–1981).

中文翻译：

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没有安全港：秃鹰行动和南美洲的跨国镇压

跨国镇压，即国家跨境蓄意针对难民和持不同政见者，是国际关系中一个相对未被充分研究的课题。本文分析了各国为何联合行动迫害国外的政治对手，并解释了此类做法的变化。它提出了跨国镇压中的合作理论，并以 20 世纪 70 年代秃鹰行动为例对其进行了检验。通过“秃鹰行动”，南美独裁国家自愿放弃其主权的关键方面，以建立复杂的合作体系来针对国外的持不同政见者。这一计划是这些国家镇压政治反对派的国内政策的重要延伸，使它们能够针对政治上活跃的难民，无论他们身在何处。流亡者被认为对这些独裁政权的生存构成了生存威胁，因为他们有可能破坏其内部和外部政权的安全，因此有必要消灭他们。我们采用跨学科方法，结合了档案研究、访谈、审判观察和法律判决分析，以及从我们的新颖数据集“南美跨国侵犯人权数据库（1969-1981）”中得出的结论。