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SUMMARY:Informers Up Close: Why Do People Report Others to Secret Police? 
 - Professor Mark Drumbl\, Washington &amp\; Lee University Law School
DTSTART:20250206T160000Z
DTEND:20250206T180000Z
UID:TALK227410@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Ayse Zarakol
DESCRIPTION:The seminar will present the book by Mark Drumbl and Barbora H
 olá\, Informers up Close: Stories from Communist Prague (Oxford Universit
 y Press\, 2024). Collaborators\, informers\, snitches\, touts\, and tattle
 rs rattle about in times of conflict\, authoritarianism\, and political vi
 olence. Networks of informers are often an indispensable tool of terror in
  repressive regimes. While these individuals often play liminal roles in t
 he violence itself\, and may themselves be victims\, they may also cause o
 thers terrible hurt and harm. Without them\, human rights abuses would not
  normalize nor spread as widely. Using a case study of Communist Czechoslo
 vakia (1945-1989)\, and drawing on the Czechoslovak Communist Secret Polic
 e (StB) archives and informers’ oral histories\, this book explores proc
 esses of informing to authorities in repressive times and considers what t
 ransitional justice should do – if anything – with informers after rep
 ression ends. The book unravels the complex motivations behind informing\,
  societal reactions to informing\, and explores the role of emotions in in
 former motivations. Informers understandably provoke strong reactions. We 
 however hope to advance the conversation from reflexive visceral disdain t
 owards a more reflective assessment. The presentation will also connect th
 is project to current debates over whistleblowers\, police informers\, tec
 hnological surveillance\, informing in so-called liberal states\, and canc
 el culture.
LOCATION:Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road (Sidgwick Site)\, Room 138
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