How Transnational Activism Undermines Democratization

Abstract

Transnational human rights mobilization targeting Kenya and Uganda during the 1970s and 1980s empowered domestic allies and delegitimized authoritarian regimes. This mobilization effectively challenged repressive regimes and created the basis for fundamental regime change in Uganda and significant political reforms in Kenya. But challenging authoritarian rule is only the beginning of a process aimed at creating sustainable democratic institutions. As the domestic struggle for democratic reforms progresses, the effects of transnational activism change. Targeted governments adapt quickly to the tastes of international human rights groups and devise strategies of deception and counter-mobilization. While previous strategies of conventional, state-led repression were not entirely dropped, new and more subtle efforts of harassment and threats take a prominent place. This chapter also shows how and why transnational mobilization beyond the initiation of regime change has more ambiguous and often negative effects on the political opposition.