Transnational Dimensions of Dealing with the Past in 'Third Wave' Democracies. Central Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union in Global Perspective (original) (raw)
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East European Politics, 2018
This article discusses the lessons that can be drawn from post-Soviet experiences of democrati-sation in hybrid regimes for debates on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) democratic backslid-ing. Focusing on Moldova and Ukraine, the article investigates the ebb and flow of post-Soviet democratisation in hybrid regimes. It explores factors that have hindered democratisation, namely state and media capture by business-political interests, and factors that have hindered authoritarian consolidation, namely civil society and citizens potential for mobilisation. The article reflects on how these factors can inform debates on backsliding in more consolidated democracies, such as CEE states.
The introduction of our special issue of European Politics and Society scrutinizes the numerous studies that deal with the memory of communism in Central and Eastern Europe and it identifies two major fault lines. The first concerns the level of analysis. A large body of work favours top-down approaches and focuses on the institutions and policies that govern the communist past. Conversely, another set of studies opts for bottom-up approaches that address the social representations and practices related to that past. The second fault line concerns the conception of the presence of the communist past, regarded either as a permanent legacy from the past (primordialist perspective) or as an instrument mobilized for political aims (instrumentalist perspective). In order to bridge these divides, the authors advocate approaching memories through the public policy instruments that are designed and implemented to deal with the past. Adhering to the notion that policy instruments are not purely technical and neutral devices but in fact carry interpretations of the ‘problem’ to be solved, this approach offers insights into what constrains social practices linked to the communist past, and how individuals put up with these constraints.
Confronting the Past: European Experiences
Political Science Research Centre, 2012
This edited volume is based on the conference proceedings presented and discussed at the international conference Confronting the Past, held on 23 April 2009 at the European House in Zagreb. This academic conference, organized jointly by the Political Science Research Centre and the Scientific Forum, gathered researchers from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland), Portugal, Latvia, Belarus, Macedonia, Austria, and Italy. The conference focused on the various experiences and practices of European states and societies in dealing with troubled pasts and often authoritarian legacies in the course of the 20th century.