Political Purges and Social Ties: Evidence from Denazification

• In Event: Responding to and Coping with Violence

Abstract

How do social ties between administrators and defendants affect the implementation
of personnel transitional justice policies? In the recent past, many countries have imple-
mented political mechanisms like purges or criminal trials to address issues of inherited
personnel from periods of authoritarian rule. While a considerable number of studies in-
vestigates the consequences of these policies, less is known about factors that shape their
implementation. Building on insights from administration research, I analyze how differ-
ences in social ties shape the outcomes of political purges by drawing on data of approx.
50 0000 trials from British occupied Nazi Germany. I investigate the effects of two differ-
ent forms of ties: social identity and networks. I leverage variation regarding the level of
ties between administrators and defendants by focusing on the handover of denazification
to German authorities as well as differences in rulings against locals and individuals that
have been displaced at the end of WWII. I find that while the increase of ties implied by the
handover lead to overall more lenient rulings, ethnic Germans with weaker social links to
their receiving communities disproportionately benefited from this effect. This points to an
ambivalent influence of social ties in the context of personnel policies. While stronger iden-
tity ties seem to reduce the willingness of decision-makers to impose harsh sanctions, links
through social networks increase their ability by facilitating the acquisition of information
regarding individual guilt.

Author

• Julian Voss, Osnabrück University