A Soviet Theory of Broken Windows: Prophylactic Policing and the KGB’s Struggle with Dissent in the Baltic States

A talk with Edward Cohn of Grinnell College. From the Jordan Center:
>From the 1950s to the 1980s, the KGB sought to fight political unrest using a tactic called profilaktika, or “prophylaxis”: instead of arresting low-level political offenders, KGB officers summoned them to their offices for a supposedly informal “chat.” The KGB’s victims were manipulated or intimidated into confessing and then released, with the understanding that they would be severely punished if they broke the law again. … Cohn’s paper takes advantage of the openness of the Baltic KGB archives to cast light on the regime’s efforts to contain anti-Soviet attitudes and hold on to a diverse and politically restive empire.