Reshaping of Elites and the Privatization of Security: The Case of Poland

Using the example of Poland, this article examines the central role of secret services in the regime transformation and new elites’ formation. It traces strategic processes of dispersal and privatization of the communist security apparatus and analyzes the strategic value of the new private security sector. Its multifaceted linkages as well as its involvement in crime, marketing of fear, tying surveillance with prestige and amassing potentially useful information are examined. This sector’s vital role in shaping new definitions of (dis)order and providing new risk management strategies is discussed within a changing, global context