"Technological Solutions for Complex Problems: Emerging Electronic Surveillance Regimes in Eurasian Cities" with Erica Marat, Associate Professor at the College of International Security Affairs, National Defense University

Description: ‘Smart city’ is the new buzzword in cities across Eurasia. Most large urban areas in the post-Soviet space have embraced smart city technologies, and those that have not are in the process of finding smart technology solutions to criminal and disorderly behavior. This use of technologies serves the larger ideal of a society in which even minor crimes are meticulously documented, a habit dating back to the Soviet tradition of criminological research. On the example of Kyiv, Almaty and Bishkek, this presentation will discuss how the pursuit of smart cities in Eurasia strives to attain modernity without the burden of deeper political change. It will review how smart city initiatives rapidly emerging across the region on two dimensions: first, local initiatives to modernize law enforcement and, second, global pressures to innovate fueled both by transnational state-controlled firms promoting their own security products. The spread of surveillance technologies in Eurasia shows how cities and countries aspire to follow global trends for smart city technologies.

Bio: Dr. Erica Marat is an Associate Professor at the College of International Security Affairs of the National Defense University. Dr. Marat’s research focuses on violence, mobilization and security institutions in Eurasia, India, and Mexico. Her book The Politics of Police Reform: Society against the State in Post-Soviet Countries (Oxford University Press 2018) explores the conditions in which a meaningful transformation of the police is likely to succeed and when it will fail.