Over centuries and across continents, authoritarian governments have demonstrated a large appetite for international cooperation to target political opponents across borders. In 1851, the “first modern police organization”—the Police Union of German States, whose members included Austria and Prussia—was established “with the express purpose of policing the political opposition of established autocratic regimes.” 1 During the 1970s and early 1980s, military regimes in South America participated in a secret scheme known as Operation Condor to coordinate their efforts to suppress subversion. 2 A recent analysis of twenty-nine “hard authoritarian” regional organizations found that twenty-five were engaged in police cooperation. 3 The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an example. Its member states have agreed to jointly fight the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism, and extremism. 4 Following a 2009 demonstration that led to riots in Urumqi, Xinjiang, some organizers fled abroad; at China’s behest, SCO members Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan detained and then extradited them back to China. 5
Kristina Daugirdas (Thu,) studied this question.