Skip to content Skip to navigation
University of Warwick
  • Study
  • |
  • Research
  • |
  • Business
  • |
  • Alumni
  • |
  • News
  • |
  • About

University of Warwick
Publications service & WRAP

Highlight your research

  • WRAP
    • Home
    • Search WRAP
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse WRAP by Year
    • Browse WRAP by Subject
    • Browse WRAP by Department
    • Browse WRAP by Funder
    • Browse Theses by Department
  • Publications Service
    • Home
    • Search Publications Service
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse Publications service by Year
    • Browse Publications service by Subject
    • Browse Publications service by Department
    • Browse Publications service by Funder
  • Help & Advice
University of Warwick

The Library

  • Login
  • Admin

Counter-terrorism in a police state : the KGB and codename Blaster, 1977

Tools
- Tools
+ Tools

Harrison, Mark (2009) Counter-terrorism in a police state : the KGB and codename Blaster, 1977. Working Paper. Economics Department, University of Warwick: University of Warwick. The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS), Vol.2009 (No.918).

[img] PDF
WRAP_Harrison_twerp_918.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer.

Download (510Kb)
Official URL: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/resear...

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

The paper provides a rare case study of terrorism and counter-terrorism within a closed society, carried out under a blanket of official secrecy. This case is unexpectedly revealing in what it tells us about terrorism, counterterrorism, and the relative strengths of open and closed societies. Documents from the archive of the Lithuania KGB show how the Soviet authorities managed the hunt for the perpetrators of bombing attacks carried out in Moscow in January 1977. Lithuania, a sensitive border region with a troubled history, was far distant from the epicenter of the conspiracy in Soviet Armenia, but the authorities did not know this beforehand, and made considerable efforts to establish or rule out a Lithuanian connection. It was a problem that the KGB, like other Soviet organizations, was vulnerable to boxchecking and other kinds of perfunctory working to the plan. The career concerns of regional KGB leaders appear to have countered this tendency. The paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of a counter-terrorist operation carried out under conditions of the intense secrecy that was normal in the Soviet police state.

Item Type: Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Subjects: D History General and Old World > DK Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics
H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Terrorism -- Soviet Union, Terrorism -- Prevention, Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti, Official secrets -- Soviet Union, Moscow (Russia) -- History -- 20th century, Terrorism investigation -- Lithuania
Series Name: The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS)
Publisher: University of Warwick
Place of Publication: Economics Department, University of Warwick
Official Date: 2009
Dates:
DateEvent
2009Published
Volume: Vol.2009
Number: No.918
Status: Not Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)
Funder: University of Warwick

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

twitter

Email us: wrap@warwick.ac.uk
Contact Details
About Us