Fish in Water? Surveillance in Post-Communist Societies

The aim of the study is to broaden the knowledge-base on regulation and practices of surveillance in post-communist societies and thereby closing the gap in existing research. The purpose is to develop our understanding of how surveillance as social sorting interacts with relationships of trust in postcommunist societies, between citizens and towards the state. The project consists of three parts: (A) A general overview over surveillance practices in 17 European post-communist states with focus on video surveillance; (B) an international survey on surveillance, privacy, and social sorting in three states, Ukraine, Poland and Estonia; and (C) a detailed study of institutionalisation of surveillance and regulation practices, as well as organised opposition in this selection of cases. With this project we aim to establish Södertörn university on the front of research on surveillance.