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Secrecy and State capacity: a look behind the Iron Curtain
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Harrison, Mark (2017) Secrecy and State capacity: a look behind the Iron Curtain. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick. Department of Economics. Warwick economics research papers series (WERPS) (1134).
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Official URL: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/resear...
Abstract
This paper reviews two decades of research on the political economy of secrecy, based on the records of former Soviet state and party archives. Secrecy was an element of Soviet state capacity, particularly its capacity for decisiveness, free of the pressures and demands for accountability that might have arisen from a better informed citizenry. But secrecy was double-edged. Its uses also incurred substantial costs that weakened the capacity of the Soviet state to direct and decide. The paper details the costs of secrecy associated with “conspirative” government business processes, adverse selection of management personnel, everyday abuses of authority, and an uninformed leadership.
Item Type: | Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper) | ||||
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Subjects: | D History General and Old World > DK Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Official secrets -- Soviet Union, Kommunisticheskai︠a︡ partii︠a︡ Sovetskogo Soi︠u︡za -- Sources | ||||
Series Name: | Warwick economics research papers series (WERPS) | ||||
Publisher: | University of Warwick. Department of Economics | ||||
Place of Publication: | Coventry | ||||
ISSN: | 0083-7350 | ||||
Official Date: | February 2017 | ||||
Dates: |
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Number: | 1134 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 31 | ||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Status: | Not Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) |
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