Between politics and law or the question of transitional justice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6107.27.02Keywords:
transitional justice, collective memory, moral norms, legalism, foundations of lawAbstract
The article is a theoretical study of legal strategies introduced in states under political transformation (post-communist states in Europe, Australia, South Africa) to deal with the effects of former political regimes. As the author argues, opening a discussion concerning the evils of former regimes is important for raising public engagement in building a new state of law. Legal retribution expresses the public contempt for committed crimes and reasserts the existence of public norms. However, following the arguments of Judith Shklar and Niklas Luhmann, the author warns against the inner limitations of legal instruments in defining the space of social and moral relationships. An antidote against the possible political instrumentalization of law and the dominance of legal regulations in public sphere should be found therefore in independent historical research and cultural debate that seeks for a deeper understanding of the past.
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