Secrets, lies, and political inequality - Radu Umbreș

Transparency and accountability are fundamental for modern democracies but grassroots governance depends upon social and cultural systems of knowledge which often raise serious barriers to information and political participation. Ethnographic fieldwork in a Romanian village shows how a culture of secrecy and deception permeates social interactions from everyday life to the workings of local politicians and administrators. Information about corruption and abuse of power becomes hidden and distorted when political leaders behave just like everyone else in the village: they protect shady deals and patronage using the epistemic advantage offered by technocratic knowledge and the haze of rumours and gossip.Illustration by Sveta Parfenyukhttps://theanthro.art/secrets-....lies-and-political-i