All Repression is Local: The Structure of State Responses to Political Dissidents.

The article explains the structure of state responses to political dissidents. This article explains that federal institutional arrangements independently account for different levels of respect for civil and political rights in democracies. It explains why restrictions of civil and political rights in federal democracies will be higher and more variable across other units. It also reviews current research on repression and implications for the argument that federalism is important for explaining why levels of repression emerge in federal democracies.