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Transition, justice and transitional justice in Poland
[journal article]
Abstract Observers have argued that the window of opportunity allowing for the adoption of transitional justice methods in Eastern Europe had closed by mid-1990s, both because by then the public had lost interest in the topic and because former communist officials and secret political police officers retaine... view more
Observers have argued that the window of opportunity allowing for the adoption of transitional justice methods in Eastern Europe had closed by mid-1990s, both because by then the public had lost interest in the topic and because former communist officials and secret political police officers retained their political clout and it to block an honest reassessment of the recent past. However, it was only toward the end of the decade that Poland adopted lustration, opened secret archives and investigated a number of communist-era atrocities, proving that, if there is political will, justice delayed might not amount to justice denied. This article examines three methods post-communist Poland has employed in order to come to terms with the communist past -lustration, secret file access and court proceedings- and offers four different explanatory factors that, when taken together, can explain the country’s reluctance to pursue the politics of memory more resolutely.... view less
Keywords
judiciary; post-communist society; Poland; coming to terms with the past; justice; reminiscence; communism; Eastern Europe
Classification
General History
Judiciary
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Document language
English
Publication Year
2006
Page/Pages
p. 257-284
Journal
Studia Politica: Romanian Political Science Review, 6 (2006) 2
ISSN
1582-4551
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 1.0