"Socialist Scandals: Corruption, Revolution, and the Quest for Justice in Poland and East Germany"

Jakub Szumski, Imre Kertesz Kolleg Jena

Wednesday, November 19 at 5pm

Gibson Hall 341

Sponsored by the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; the Center for German Studies; and the European Studies Program

Abstract: Imagine a world without corruption. A world in which politicians disregard private interests and are committed to a better future for the people they serve. State socialist political elites in Cold War East-Central Europe promised to build such a world. Now imagine the same elites being caught profiting from their offices, building private homes using state resources, hoarding consumer goods, and bending legal and moral rules to their benefit. “Socialist Scandals” focuses on Poland and East Germany and examines how late-communist East-Central Europe dealt with corruption scandals. This project points to the durability of the socialist political culture of understanding corruption. It shows how dissenters used this culture against the socialist state and situates socialist confrontations with corruption in the modern history of this phenomenon. By providing a historically informed East-Central European perspective, it contributes to the ongoing debates about the dominant international expertise on corruption.