"From Warsaw to Washington: How Communist Experience Elucidates Dangers to Western Democracies Today”
Prof Janine Wedel
George Mason University
Never before has experience in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe under communism (and in the quarter century since) been more relevant to what is going on now in the West. This talk, by social anthropologist and public policy professor Janine R. Wedel, explores parallels between communist and post-communist eastern Europe and Western democracies today. Whether at issue is the dearth of trust in public institutions, governance by power cliques and informality, the “gig” economy, or the turn to parody in response to the formulaic nature of mainstream media, the study of communist society and politics in practice has stunning contemporary implications.
Thursday, 14th March 2019, 4.00pm,
Anthropology Seminar Room, Rowan House