Latin American Transnational Surveillance Dataset (LATS)

The LATS dataset compiles and systematizes information on dissident networks surveilled by Brazil's autocratic regime between 1966 and 1998. The dataset is based on declassified foreign surveillance reports produced by the regime. LATS records the identities, locations, social ties, and political activism of 17,000 individual targets of transnational surveillance, the vast majority of whom were tracked in neighboring countries across Latin America. Individual names have been pseudo-anonymized and replaced by unique ID. LATS has a multilevel structure with Report-Individual-Connections as the observation units. From each report, we document individuals, their affiliations, countries of birth and residence, and the interactions among them (including locations and dates). This enables LATS to reaggregate data across different units of analysis, facilitating research on multiple questions pertaining to transnational surveillance. LATS can be a key empirical resource for better understanding patterns of transnational surveillance. Transnational surveillance is a powerful tool in the arsenal of autocrats worldwide. Despite its pervasive use in extraterritorial coercion, the systematic study of surveillance of regime opponents beyond national borders remains underdeveloped in Political Science, primarily due to limited data availability. LATS' abundant multilevel data allows for empirical exploration of existing theoretical insights about the motivations, methods, and consequences of transnational surveillance. For a detailed discussion of the dataset, data collection, and potential applications, see Spektor, Matias; Fernandes, Marcos; De Oliveira Paes, Lucas; Dalla Pola, Joao Vitor; and Sion, Victor. "Introducing the Latin American Transnational Surveillance Dataset (LATS)," Journal of Peace Research (2024). Spektor et al. (2024) also leverage social network analysis to showcase potential applications of LATS for testing collective-action theories of transnational political violence.