7 Gaining Geopolitical Support Social movements do not operate in a vacuum, and they do not fulfill their goals on their own. As a number of pioneers in the field of movement studies have demonstrated, activists operate in contexts populated by a range of political players, including government officials and the media, who have the potential to help or hinder the realization of their goals (Lipsky 1968; McAdam 1999 [1982]; McAdam et al. 2001; Meyer 2004; Tilly 1976[1964]). Accordingly, while the process of resource conversion discussed in Chapter 6 is necessary for diaspora intervention against authoritarianism, it will only get activists so far. This chapter demonstrates that just as local- and national-level social movements are bolstered by the backing of their proximate governments, the media, and civil society (Amenta 2006; Gamson and Wolfsfeld 1993; McAdam and Boudet 2012), so too is transnational diaspora activism facilitated by the geopolitical support of international actors such as states, media, international NGOs (Keck and Sikkink 1998), and multilateral bodies dedicated to regulating the behavior of states. Geopolitical support is necessary for diaspora activists to fulfill their goals for several reasons. First, even if activists return home to instigate insurgency or channel weapons homeward (Anderson 1998; Hockenos 2003), they cannot take down powerful authoritarian regimes on their own. Instead, they need the backing of states and institutions with the capacity to counter authoritarian regime violence and support rebel groups directly (Betts and Jones 2016). Second, diaspora members are literal outsiders to the homeland, separated from their allies by borders and distance. Activists who seek to intervene in their home-countries by remitting and volunteering are therefore reliant on gatekeeping authorities who control the movement of people and resources in geographical space. Of course, activists can often find a way around these gatekeepers through smuggling and circuitous routes. Nevertheless, states can 202 https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009272148 Published online by Cambridge University Press