Traditional assumptions within rentier state theory (RST) suggest that the accrual of resource rents by the state weakens civil society, allowing the state to coopt or repress independent associations. However, the civil society concept itself has been only rarely discussed in the RST literature, which is problematic for elucidating clear causal mechanisms between rents and the weakening of such society. In particular, the transnational and international dimensions of civil society in rentier states have been neglected, with the focus instead being on the cooptive capacity of the state on wholly domestic civil society organizations. This paper argues that by introducing a transnational and international understanding of civil society to RST, we can better conceptualize how the co-optation and repression mechanisms impact civil society groups differently, depending upon their access to international networks. It finds that while rentier states have been effective in some cases at coopting or repressing formal, domestic civic organizations, they have had less success shaping the political activity of organizations with substantial links to transnational and international networks. The paper focuses particularly on in-depth case studies of civil society groups in Bahrain, but also draws more broadly from over 120 personal interviews conducted across the Gulf region and among diaspora communities in the UK and US. It finds that previous instances of repression are important to the formation of an internationalized opposition community, comprised largely of political exiles from previous uprisings and their extended families, that contribute to the maintenance of political advocacy even as repressive or cooptative governance strategies are implemented domestically. At the same time, this internationalization can also cause a transformation in the nature of the civil society organization itself, and the paper discusses how certain Bahraini political organizations have started to fragment internally as their domestic space for operations shrank after 2014 and they were forced to rely more on their transnational networks, which in turn had differing ideas about how to pursue political reform. The paper thus understands the impact of transnational and international civil society as dynamic, and traces the development of these relations over time, both in terms of how they impact the resilience of civil society in the face of repression and cooptation, and in terms of their effect on the political attitudes and internal cohesion of the organizations themselves. Ultimately, these dynamics contribute to an enhanced understanding of civil society in modern Gulf rentier states.