Physical Violence and State legitimacy in Late Socialism

Public Lecture

Prof. Dr. Alfred J. Rieber (Central European University, Budapest)

"Murder and Mayhem in the Post-Stalinist Soviet Union: A Thaw?"

Friday, 21 June 2013, 17:00
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, room 224

This paper seeks to analyze the shifting policies of the post‐Stalinist governments with respect to the organization of violence both physical and symbolic. It focuses on specific problems of defining crime and punishment as well as the evolution of coercive institutions. In addition it explores the relationship between popular violence and state policies.

Prof. Alfred J. Rieber is Research Professor in the History Department of the Central European University. He was formerly Cass Term Professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania where he also served as chair of the department for ten years. He is the author of numerous scholarly publications on nineteenth century Russian social history and the history of communism. His latest book is "Salami Tactics Revisited. The Hungarian Communist Road To Power," Trondheim Studies in East Europe and Eurasia Oslo, 2013.

Flyer Public Lecture (PDF)