Secret Leviathan: Secrecy and State Capacity Under Soviet Communism Harrison Mark
Secret Leviathan: Secrecy and State Capacity Under Soviet Communism Harrison Mark The Soviet Union was one of the most secretive states that ever existed. But behind the scenes, Soviet secrecy was…
Specifikacia Secret Leviathan: Secrecy and State Capacity Under Soviet Communism Harrison Mark
Secret Leviathan: Secrecy and State Capacity Under Soviet Communism Harrison Mark
The Soviet Union was one of the most secretive states that ever existed. But behind the scenes, Soviet secrecy was double-edged: it raised transaction costs, incentivized indecision, compromised the effectiveness of government officials, eroded citizens' trust in institutions and in each other, and led to a secretive society and an uninformed elite. Defended by a complex apparatus of rules and checks administered by the secret police, the Soviet state had seemingly unprecedented capabilities based on its near monopoly of productive capital, monolithic authority, and secretive decision making.
The result is what this book calls the secrecy/capacity tradeoff: a bargain in which the Soviet state accepted the reduction of state capacity as the cost of ensuring its own survival.This book is the first comprehensive, analytical, multi-faceted history of Soviet secrecy in the English