The Challenge of Populist Memory Politics for Europe: Towards Effective Responses to Militant Legislation on the Past (MEMOCRACY)

Oct 1, 2021 - Sep 30, 2024

Project description

The MEMOCRACY project will examine the proliferation of the nation-centric governance of memory through laws and policies in Germany and selected countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The study will also unpack the relationship of this memory governance with rising populism and the erosion of fundamental democratic rights in the region. Employing the concept of ‘memocracy’, meaning ‘ruling on the basis of memory’, the study seeks to shed light on how particular abuses of memory laws and policies can undermine common European values such as democracy, fundamental human rights and the rule of law as well as to facilitate a move towards authoritarianism, in particular, in CEE. Furthermore, the project aims to raise awareness about the inherent dangers of these laws and policies while also upholding liberal democratic standards in all the Member States of the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe (CoE).

The project is carried out by Uladzislau Belavusau, together with Prof. Angelika Nußberger (former judge at the European Court of Human Rights and Professor of Law at the University of Cologne), Dr. Maria Mälksoo (Senior Researcher at the Centre for Military Studies, University of Copenhagen), and Dr. Aleksandra Gliszczynska-Grabias (Assistant Professor at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences). The project has received funding from the Volkswagen Foundation, as part of the 'Challenges for Europe' programme.