New Publication: Special Issue on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’
Part One of a MELA Special Issue on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’ has been published in the Summer 2020 edition of European Papers, an open access journal. The issue, which was co-edited by MELA postdoctoral researchers Dr Grażyna Baranowska and Dr León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, collects the contributions of the 2018 MELA Conference held in Warsaw on ‘Memory Laws in Post-Transitional Democracies: Case Studies from Post-Communist States’. Part Two of the Special Issue will be published in the Fall 2020 edition of European Papers.
The Special Issue addresses the trajectory of memory governance from Western Europe - which has focused on the Holocaust as a foundational European narrative - towards the East. It also outlines the tensions emerging between Western European accounts and the historical specificities of post-communist States which experienced different forms of totalitarianism. Ultimately, the contributions show that the embrace of the rule of law in post-communist Europe via the European Union, transitional justice or the promotion of democratic values has sometimes been at odds with the region’s mnemonic governance.
The essays address the dislocation between legal and historical approaches to memory, and discuss developments in Ukraine, Hungary and Lithuania. The Special Issue includes papers authored by Prof. Nikolay Koposov, Dr. Alina Cherviastova, Dr. Nika Bruskina and Dr. Miklós Könczöl with István Kevevári, along with an introduction by Dr. Baranowska and Dr. Castellanos-Jankiewicz. A second instalment will be published in the forthcoming issue of European Papers, and will comprise contributions by Prof. Nevenka Tromp, Prof. Mirosław Wyrzykowski, Marina Bán and conclusions by Dr. Uladzislau Belavusau and Dr. Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias.
This publication follows a MELA Special Issue on memory laws edited by Dr. Piergiuseppe Parisi and Dr. Nanor Kebranian on the theme of ‘Law and Historical Injustice’ which was published in the Journal of Comparative Law in 2018. Whereas Dr. Parisi and Dr. Kebranian's issue focuses on Western democracies, Part One of the MELA Special Issue focuses on transitional democracies in post-communist Europe.
To access Part One of the MELA Special Issue on ‘Historical Memory in Post-Communist Europe and the Rule of Law’, published in European Papers, click here. Part Two is expected to be published in Fall 2020.
