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Watching the Watchers

Communist Elites, the Secret Police and Social Order in Cold War Europe

(Autor)

Buch | Softcover
353 Seiten
2025
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-009-41364-0 (ISBN)
CHF 52,35 inkl. MwSt
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Secret police are central actors in dictatorships, yet we know very little about these institutions. Exploring communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, Henry Thomson opens this black box for the first time. This book will appeal to anyone interested in how authoritarian regimes and their secret police forces work.
Throughout history, dictators have constructed secret police agencies to neutralize rivals and enforce social order. But the same agencies can become disloyal and threatening. This book explores how eight communist regimes in Cold War Europe confronted this dilemma. Divergent strategies caused differences in regimes of repression, with consequences for social order and political stability. Surviving the shock of Josef Stalin's death, elites in East Germany and Romania retained control over the secret police. They grew their coercive institutions to effectively suppress dissent via surveillance and targeted repression. Elsewhere, ruling coalitions were thrown into turmoil after Stalin's death, changing personnel and losing control of the security apparatus. Post-Stalinist transitions led elites to restrict the capacity of the secret police and risk social disorder. Using original empirical analysis that is both rigorous and rich in fascinating detail, Henry Thomson brings new insights into the darkest corners of authoritarian regimes.

Henry Thomson is an Associate Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. He has won fellowships and prizes from the American Political Science Association, Nuffield College, and Australian National University and is the author of Food and Power: Regime Type, Agricultural Policy and Political Stability (2019).

Part I. Introduction and Theory: 1. Introduction; 2. Theory; Part II. Comparative Historical Analysis: 3. Introduction to part II; 4. The Polish People's Republic; 5. The German Democratic Republic; Part III. Cross-National Quantitative Analysis: 6. Introduction to part III; 7. Elite cohesion and coercive agent tenure; 8. Officers and secret informants; Part IV. Conclusion: 9. Conclusion; Appendix A: Secret police agencies and chiefs; Appendix B: Survival analysis; Appendix C: Agency size analysis.

Erscheint lt. Verlag 6.2.2025
Zusatzinfo Worked examples or Exercises
Verlagsort Cambridge
Sprache englisch
Themenwelt Sozialwissenschaften Politik / Verwaltung Politische Systeme
Sozialwissenschaften Politik / Verwaltung Vergleichende Politikwissenschaften
Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-10 1-009-41364-3 / 1009413643
ISBN-13 978-1-009-41364-0 / 9781009413640
Zustand Neuware
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