Collective memory in law and policy
The problem of the sovereign debt crisis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23150641 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Patrick O'Callaghan, Patrick O’Callaghan (0000-0001-8251-693X, Newcastle University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 642-660 |
| Publication date | 2012-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Legal Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0261-3875 • E-ISSN: 1748-121X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1748-121x.2012.00251.x |
| OpenAlex | W1957491830 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 37 |
The idea of ‘collective memory’ features prominently in several disciplines but rarely in legal scholarship. Drawing on the work of Henri Bergson, Maurice Halbwachs and GWF Hegel, this paper seeks to present an account of collective memory that is relevant to discourse on law and policy. The paper uses the example of the policy response to the European sovereign debt crisis as a means of illustrating how collective memory of events in the distant past can shape individual behaviour and thinking. It argues that the current policy response can be explained, at least in part, by the influence on policy makers of the standard historical narrative of the Great Inflation of Weimar Germany. When, however, collective memory takes the form of Bergsonian ‘habit memory’, it can inhibit our efforts to resolve hard cases and the German government's opposition to the European Central Bank acting as a lender of last resort in the government bond markets neatly illustrates this point. If the debt crisis is to be managed effectively, policy makers must draw on Bergsonian ‘pure memory’ to explore the bounds of political and economic possibility.
Collective memory · Debt · Economics · Keynesian economics · Law and economics · Macroeconomics · Narrative · Opposition (politics) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Political Theory and Influence
The Germans
Untersuchungen zur sozialen Gestaltung der Wirtschaftsordnung
How Societies Remember
Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics
From Financial Crash to Debt Crisis
In Memoriam
Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany
Perceptions of Jewish History
Friedrich A. Hayek und die Freiburger Schule
American Memories
On Collective Memory
Hyperinflation in Germany. Perceptions of a Process
Ordoliberalism and the social market
Freedom With Responsibility
The End of Posnerian Law and Economics
Constitutionalizing the Economy
The JCMS Annual Lecture
Yet Again
Social Memory Studies
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2023 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |