Democracy and Memory

Romania Confronts Its Communist Past

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9765815
AutoresVladimir Tismaneanu (0000-0001-7835-2477, University of Maryland, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen617
Número1
Páginas166-180
Fecha de publicación2008-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0002716207312763
OpenAlexW2049277479
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas22
Referencias citadas18

All postcommunist societies face major dilemmas in confronting their traumatic past. A functional democracy cannot be based on lies, denial, and amnesia. Romania's exit from communism has resulted in a hybrid quasi-democratic regime, with former communists like Ion Iliescu maintaining influential positions and opposing a genuine break with the past. In 2006, President Traian Basescu established a Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania; the author of this article was selected as its chair. The commission's Final Report was the basis for President Basescu's condemnation of the communist dictatorship as illegitimate and criminal. Offering a comparative perspective, the author focuses on the debates that led to the creation of the commission, the commission's activity and the fierce attacks on it by nostalgic communists and xenophobic nationalists, and the impact of moral justice on Romania's democratic political culture

Commission · Communism · Democracy · Dictatorship · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration