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This course aims to explore the function of secret police in Western society, with special reference to the conditions under which secret police become necessary in order to hold a society together. In particular, the tendency of secret police forces to emerge from secrecy and conduct mass campaigns of public terror, and the way in which they use fear not only to manufacture but also to express a social consensus will be studied. These questions are studied on a comparative and historical basis, by means of case studies ranging from the Spanish Inquisition to the KGB. (Not offered 2005-2007.) |