Democracy and Memory: Romania Confronts Its Communist Past

Vladimir Tismaneanu
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Vladimir Tismaneanu: University of Maryland

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008, vol. 617, issue 1, 166-180

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: postcommunist stocktaking; communist nostalgia; resistance to facts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:617:y:2008:i:1:p:166-180

DOI: 10.1177/0002716207312763

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