Justice in Reparations

The Cost of Memory and the Value of Talk

Bibliographic Data

ID6325561
AuthorsChristopher Kutz (0000-0001-5267-8313, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume32
Issue3
Pages277-312
Publication date2004-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy & Public Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0048-3915 • E-ISSN: 1088-4963
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1088-4963.2004.00015.x
OpenAlexW1586059203
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited1

Christopher Kutz Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, U.C.- Berkeley [email protected] Justice in Reparations: The cost of memory and the value of talk Central and Eastern Europe’s latter-day history has consisted in a number of spectacularly failed experiments in political philosophy. Communism’s failure brought with it an important set of lessons; and in the former Soviet Union since 1989, the failure of unbounded capitalism has confirmed some important truths about healthy polities, for example the crucial role played by social trust in civil society, and the importance of a functioning tax and regulatory system. One important set of lessons, however, is yet to be fully distilled. These lessons arise from Central Europe’s recent attempts to undo the expropriations and deprivations that occurred during the forcible transformation of peasants and bourgeoisie, institutions and individuals, from free-holders in land into unlanded participants in socialism. Many others, of course, were losers under state socialism: those denied a choice of career, freedom to travel, possibilities of political agency. But losing land has had a special salience, partly because of the special role land ownership plays in social memory, and partly because the formerly landed often have other assets, and are able to mobilize political forces effectively. Thus, the restoration of expropriated property in kind or in value has been a legislative priority in the new states. The programs themselves have varied greatly in pace, ambition, efficiency, and scope. Any complete assessment of the success or failure of these programs must be highly local and contextual. Taken together, however, they pose a common problem: what should a state do when deprivation and injustice are systematic, their correction Forthcoming in Phil. & Pub. Aff. (Summer 2004

Capitalism · Communism · Law and economics · Multitude · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Law