To understand state control, we need to consider both citizens’ actions and regime response. This paper uses an original dataset containing detailed information from a sample of almost 300 informants to East Germany’s Ministry for State Security (Stasi) to shed light on the way in which an authoritarian system can use covert repression to counter the effects of a destabilizing process. I consider both the supply of potential informants, arising from the wider society, and the Stasi’s demand for them.

(Nuffield College Political Science Seminar)

Abstract:

An event held under the auspices of St Antony’s College and the Oxford University Research Project on Civil Resistance and Power Politics, to mark 70 years of Indian independence.