23 results
List of Figures and Table
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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2 - Methodology: From Research Results to Recommendations
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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Summary
Developing policy recommendations based on comprehensive, in-depth research is not an easy task. Whether a recommendation is accepted by policy makers – and that is what matters in real life and what can (in our case) move us a step forward in addressing the difficult past – often depends on factors beyond the researchers’ control. This is one of the reasons why academic researchers, approaching the complexity of the social world in ways that are not straightforward, are often reluctant to write short and concise policy recommendations, even though they are aware that serious engagement in the process can have immense benefits for society (CARDI, 2012). In addition, researchers are often not adequately trained to communicate research findings in forms other than academic publications, even though publishing shorter, more widely understood texts is an important element in maximizing impact.
Finding a middle ground in making recommendations, which some may also view as watering down recommendations, is a process that takes time. However, if the recommendation is based on solid evidence on the one hand and does not fundamentally challenge the interests of key stakeholders on the other, the recommendation is more likely to be adopted. It should come as no surprise that this is difficult to achieve, especially in countries with a troubled past that are targeted by these recommendations.
This chapter explains the logic used to move from research findings to specific policy recommendations and is therefore organized as follows. First, it explains the process of creating the first version of the recommendations, which was based solely on the project's research findings. The second section explains how relevant interlocutors (policy makers and stakeholders) were involved in the process of revising the earlier versions of the recommendations. The third and final section describes how some of the interlocutors were additionally recruited for interviews and how some other perspectives from people who were not directly involved in this process were included in the final version of the recommendations.
Drafting the first version of the policy Recommendations
The RePAST research consortium had the aforementioned considerations in mind when thinking about how to compile the policy recommendations; they were to be written for the EU as an institution and for seven countries struggling with difficult pasts (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, Kosovo, Poland and Spain).
References
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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Acknowledgements
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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1 - Introduction
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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Summary
The European integration project, and along with it the survival of the European Union (EU), is currently challenged by deep-rooted, revived or emerging sources of conflict and signs of disintegration such as the European financial crisis, the refugee and migration crisis, and a political crisis, the rise of populism, radicalization and reactionary politics. Simultaneously, age-old antagonisms between and within European nations are being galvanized and openly nurture explicit anti-EU public sentiments. Many of these conflict discourses are traced back to problematic historical legacies of Europe, which, far from being ‘settled’, continue to make their way into the public discourse.
Responding to this problem, academics, experts and institutions – including the EU, conceived and largely established as a ‘peace project’ per se – constantly look for ways to work through these conflicts by supporting research endeavours. The RePAST project was one such initiative that aimed at investigating how European societies deal with their troubled pasts today. ‘Troubled past’ is understood in this book in a wide sense, covering the Second World War, including the Holocaust and National Socialism, communist pasts, authoritarian pasts, interethnic conflicts and colonial pasts. Grown out of the project RePAST, the idea of a book such as the current one, which offers concrete strategies and recommendations for mitigating the negative consequences of troubled pasts on the European integration, is very timely. A series of internal and external crises (for example, financial crisis, Ukraine crisis, refugee crisis, rise of illiberalism in Central and Eastern Europe, Brexit) have contributed to the upsurge of various types of identity and memory politics that are undermining the ideational foundation of the European integration (that is, a ‘success story’ that managed to address the antagonisms among the Western European countries after the Second World War). The present book builds on the analyses of the mnemonical and historical trajectories of European states to offer concrete strategies and recommendations that could potentially receive broader societal consensus.
The RePAST project focused precisely on how historical discourses are articulated today in European countries with troubled pasts.
4 - Kosovo: Troubled Past and Its Path to Moving On
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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Summary
Introduction
Debates about Kosovo's troubled past mostly reflect on the last war (1998–9) that de facto brought to an end the reign of Serbs. Occasionally, these discussions extend to the period of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the foundation of the Albanian independent state in 1912, the Second World War and the period of Yugoslavia when Kosovo was for some time an autonomous province populated with Albanians, Serbs and other communities – and even further back, to the Middle Ages, when the Serbian medieval state ruled these territories. Mostly, for Kosovo, the troubled past started erupting again in the late 1980s, when the autonomous province was stripped of autonomy by Milosevic; many researchers take the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo that took place at Gazimestan near Prishtina in 1989 as a prelude to the point of no return, which was then set in stone in June 1999 with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops being deployed to Kosovo after a NATO military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).
During the clash between Kosovo Albanians and FRY in the 1990s, segregationist policies were implied in education and Kosovo Albanians self-organized parallel institutions, schools, elections and healthcare as a nonviolent movement in response to segregation policies imposed by Milosevic's Serbia. Parallel with the non-violent movement, Kosovo Albanians who were dissatisfied with non-violence organized the military resistance which led to creation of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The war started with sporadic clashes between the FRY forces and the KLA in 1998, which erupted in March 1999 just before the NATO intervention that started on the 24 March 1999 and lasted until 10 June 1999. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in a report from 2003 estimated that during that time 862,979 refugees left Kosovo and were pushed towards neighbouring countries in Albania, Macedonia and some in Montenegro in the attempts to ethnically cleanse Kosovo (OSCE, 1999).
After the war ended in 1999, a new period of dealing with the past started, mainly dominated by court processes and less armed violence in the ethnically still divided society. To date, conflicts of the past are often brought back to life by the media and political discourses which produces hate and stands in the way of ethnic reconciliation and overall political progress.
Notes
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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7 - Spain: How to Overcome the Polarization about the Conflicts of the Past?
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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Summary
Introduction
Two conflicts of the recent past are still very present in the collective memories and the political discourse in Spain, namely the civil war (1936–9) and Franco's dictatorship (1939–77). The Spanish civil war was the result of a major internal conflict of an ideological, social, religious and regional character that intensified during the Second Republic (1931–9). One of the dimensions of the division was the centre–periphery cleavage, between the Republicans, more sensitive to demands for decentralization – especially intense in regions such as the Basque Country and Catalonia – and the so-called ‘Nationals’ in favour of a strong and centralized nation-state. The war started in 1936 when a group of army officers attempted a coup d’état against the democratically elected Republican government. They were internally supported by the military, landowners, businessmen and the Catholic Church, and externally by the fascist German and Italian armies. The Republicans were led by the government and the army was supported by the militias of other leftist and anarchist political parties, trade unions and volunteers from all over Europe and the Americas who joined the communist-run International Brigades. In society, the Republicans found support mainly among urban workers, agricultural labourers and the educated secular middle class. The Soviet Union provided highly conditional assistance to the Republic. The UK and France, on the other hand, supported an arms embargo that effectively doomed the Republic. More than 350,000 Spaniards died in the fighting.
The multiple ‘cleavages’ and conflicts that divided Spanish society were further deepened during almost 40 years of dictatorship. During this period, many of the defeated were displaced, tortured, imprisoned or killed. Between 30,000 and 50,000 people were executed on political grounds in the aftermath of the civil war and 500,000 went into exile. There were more than 188 concentration camps, and many people were in forced labour (Aguilar et al, 2011, p 63). During the dictatorship, any sign of nationalist identity (for example, speaking in Basque or Catalonian language) was totally suppressed. The repression of the state was felt until September 1975 when the last five people were executed. There are no official figures but according to the National High Court, between 1936 and 1951 there were more than 114,226 victims of enforced disappearance (De Greiff, 2014).
11 - Conclusion
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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Summary
The project RePAST investigated how seven European societies – the EU member states and the countries aspiring to join the EU – deal with their troubled pasts today, with a view on the impact of conflicting discourses on European integration. It also explored what is the role of the EU in this regard. After an intensive field research (2018–21) in each of the societies, of which scientific results are available on the project website, the consortium attempted to offer several practical ideas how a few steps towards overcoming the troubled pasts could be taken.
The added value of the project RePAST was that it attempted to disentangle the troubled pasts in four interrelated domains of social life: history, media, politics, and arts and culture. Drawing on earlier research, the main aim of the book is to offer meaningful and actionable policy recommendations, tailored to the needs of interested stakeholders at both the national and the EU level (policy makers, researchers, journalists, students, citizens). The policy recommendations should be read in an integrative manner and should be implemented as comprehensively as possible despite the authors acknowledging the fact that this would be difficult. Regardless of that, even a few small steps – implementing or even thoroughly considering a few of the recommendations – would be an important policy-related impact of the project.
In this concluding chapter, we do the following: first, we summarize the gist of policy recommendations and look for similarities across case studies; second, we pinpoint and discuss the specificities of each case study's troubled pasts. These policy recommendations, which could also be understood as strategies for transformational policy reforms in four investigated areas, are developed to reflect upon the possible strategies for dealing with the troubled pasts of different countries. In doing so, the recommendations and strategies proposed are grounded on the analysis of mnemonical and historical trajectories to understand how different types of discourses (for example, oral and official history, journalistic-led discourses, political and civil society-led discourses) on past conflicts inform the present and how those discourses are reproduced, negotiated and (re)appropriated amidst the European integration process and an ever closer Union among peoples.
Since there are diverse types of troubled pasts in Europe, the book followed the typology of troubled pasts along the four criteria, namely historical factor, time span of the EU membership, topical factor and risk factor.
3 - Bosnia and Herzegovina: From Coexistence to Unresolvable Past?
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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Summary
Introduction
The history of the Balkan Peninsula, like that of many other regions of the world, has been marked by violence. The turmoil was caused by the spread of different religions in these areas (for example, the spread of Islam with the Ottoman Empire) and intra-religious schisms (for example, the schism between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 11th century). The 20th century brought fundamental political changes to this part of the world that still reverberate today: the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century, followed by the Balkan Wars (1912–13), the two world wars and the Yugoslav era (Calic, 1995; Bose, 2002).
The inability to resolve many ‘ethnic issues’ continues to weigh immensely on the people of the area today – including in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where the war that devastated the country between 1992 and 1995 deepened ethnic, religious and national divisions. These divisions, which were relatively mild (or effectively put down) during the Yugoslav era, when BiH was praised a symbol of coexistence, are still present today. This is not surprising given that the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA), which effectively ended the armed violence in 1995 – but did not bring reconciliation – set the country's divisions in stone and even legalized them. Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats ‘got’ the Federation of BiH (51 per cent of the territory), while Bosnian Serbs were ‘rewarded’ with the Republika Srpska (RS), covering 49 per cent of the territory (Bougarel, 1996; Carmichael, 2002). By perpetuating at least three different streams of ethno-nationalist rhetoric, underpinned by the portrayal of the ‘other’ as the enemy, the political elites of each nation maintain a firm grip on power in both entities to this day.
Many people living in BiH have personally experienced the war or, if they are members of the younger generations, have strong beliefs about the war based on what they have been told about it or what they have read about it. Moreover, people living in the aftermath of armed violence are ‘reminded’ of the war and current ethnic tensions on a daily basis – which is not surprising given that the DPA established the ‘ethno-political functioning’ of modern BiH.
Frontmatter
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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10 - The European Union
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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Summary
Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to prepare a concrete roadmap for the EU in its attempts to find strategies for overcoming troubled pasts in European countries in four different domains (history, media, politics, arts and culture). By doing this, the following roadmap attempts to answer what the EU institutions can do to help European countries, both members and aspiring candidates for the membership, to foster the processes that would lead to the overcoming of troubled pasts in respective countries.
But first, a quick overview of the EU integration processes since the end of the Second World War until the present day, explained from the perspective of the ‘peace ideas’ that have been underpinning integration efforts in different times, is needed to understand how the EU developed as an actor that aims at helping the countries to overcome their troubled pasts. If the European Community (EC) was, especially in the first decades after the Second World War, ‘security-oriented’ primarily inwards, the institution gradually evolved into an actor with stabilizing aspirations, which aims at projecting peace outside its borders.
We begin in 2012, with one of the most remarkable events for the EU as a peace actor. This year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU, justifying it with the following formulation: ‘The EU's most important result is the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation, democracy, and human rights. The stabilizing part played by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace’ (Birchfield et al, 2017, p 3).
This prize – although widely contested, because the EU has still been lacking effective capabilities to build peace in conflict societies – was a result of decades-long endeavours. The ideational basis of European reconstruction after the Second World War was building such international order, which would reduce or even fully nullify the possibility that the European states would again resort to the use of armed force for ‘resolving’ their disputes. The founding fathers of the European integration believed that this aim could be reached by, first, fostering cooperation among European states, and second, by intertwining them economically to the greatest possible extent.
PART I - Non-EU Member States
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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5 - Germany: The Wall is Dead, Long Live the Wall!?
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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- Troubled Pasts in Europe
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- 25 January 2024
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- 29 September 2023, pp 57-71
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Summary
Introduction
‘If the goal is to escape the power of the past, whether that is more likely to happen through forgetting or remembering is still quite open’ writes Helmut König (2008, p 33), referring to the question of how to deal with the destructive power of history. According to the German political scientist, the pendulum between the two poles of remembering and forgetting is not primarily about morality but about which option can be expected to yield the most significant return in terms of the stability of the social order (König, 2008, p 39). The question at stake is how history and memory politics can promote integration processes and, thus, ensure social cohesion. If this were easy to answer, many of yesterday's conflicts would be resolved today. Yet, it is precisely this question that is at the heart of this chapter, which aims to provide an impetus for rethinking the (post-)socialist practice of remembrance in Germany.
In recent years, with the emergence of Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident in 2014 and the landslide electoral successes of the right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany – AfD) in the Eastern German states, Germany's (post-)socialist past has once again become the focus of attention. Finding the reasons for the advance of the right in the East has been driving scholars and researchers ever since, filling many a bookshelf in the 30th anniversary year of the fall of the Wall and German unification (see, for example, Dahn, 2019; Engler, 2019; Kowalczuk, 2019; Mau, 2019; Pollack, 2020). Moreover, the shift to the right in East Germany has put the question of how to deal with the (post-)socialist legacy back on the political agenda. In April 2019, the German government under the then-chancellor, Angela Merkel, set up the Commission ‘30 Jahre Friedliche Revolution und Deutsche Einheit’ (30 Years of Peaceful Revolution and German Unity) operating under the motto, ‘German Unity is a process that is not yet complete’ (Enders et al, 2021). The Commission's report, published in December 2020, contains recommendations for action aimed at increasing public focus on East Germans’ ‘lifetime achievements’ over the past 30 years.
8 - Cyprus: The EU's Role in Europe's Last Divided Country
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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- Troubled Pasts in Europe
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- Bristol University Press
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- 25 January 2024
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- 29 September 2023, pp 110-125
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Summary
Introduction
The two communities in Cyprus, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, lived relatively peacefully on the island for centuries. Even after the Greek revolution in 1821 against the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of the ‘Enosis’ ambition (annexation of Cyprus to Greece) among the Greek Cypriots, the two communities continued to live in harmony.
Political developments of the 20th century, such as British colonialism and the hostilities between Greece and Turkey, were crucial in generating a Greek–Turkish conflict in Cyprus. Greek Cypriots considered their community as the historical inhabitants of the island and thus sought the annexation of the island to the newly founded Greek state. On the other side, Turkish Cypriots considered that ‘Enosis’ would degrade their rights and wanted to divide the island into two parts. After a four-year anti-colonial armed struggle (1955–9), Greek Cypriots failed to achieve ‘Enosis’, and the two communities compromised on the foundation of an independent state. The foundation of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) was not the priority for either of the two communities, so bi-communal conflicts continued. In 1974, after a failed coup d’état orchestrated by the Greek junta against the legitimately elected president of the RoC, Turkey invaded the northern part of the island. The Turkish invasion forced hundreds of thousands of Cypriots to leave their homes and migrate to the north or south. Since then, Turkey has deployed a large military force in the northern part of Cyprus, while, according to international law, an illegal state was founded, which is solely recognized as a sovereign state by Turkey. After 1977, the five parties involved in the Cyprus Problem (Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Greece, Turkey and the UK) sat at the negotiating table several times to find a mutually acceptable solution, which has not yet been achieved.
The two communities had lived in complete isolation for many years, as until 2003, the regime in the north did not allow anyone to cross to the other side of the island. In 2003, the opening of some checkpoints allowed inter-communal contact for the first time in almost 30 years. Nevertheless, to this day, the relations and the contacts between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are still considered marginal.
Contents
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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- Troubled Pasts in Europe
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- 29 September 2023, pp iii-iii
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Index
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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- Troubled Pasts in Europe
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- 29 September 2023, pp 198-205
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List of Abbreviations
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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9 - Poland: Strategies for Challenging the Growing Dominance of Right-wing Memory Politics
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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- Troubled Pasts in Europe
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- 29 September 2023, pp 126-142
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Summary
Introduction
Before the Second World War, about one-third of the population of Poland were members of national minorities, including Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians and Germans. However, as a result of the Nazi and Soviet invasion of Poland, the Holocaust, the expulsion of Germans and the resettlement of Ukrainians, the post-1945 Poland became an ethnically homogeneous nation-state. It is estimated that about 5.7 million Polish citizens lost their lives during the German occupation and about 150,000 Polish citizens lost their lives during the Soviet occupation. In the aftermath of the war, Poland was a state with reduced sovereignty. The communist Polish United Workers’ Party gained firm control over domestic politics, which nonetheless remained under the Soviet influence.
In the period 1945–89, the country's memory politics was fully dependent on the narrative dictated by the state and influenced by the pro-Soviet optics. However, the collective memory, the acts of oppositional memory, and oppositional commemorative acts recurred in this period and re-emerged in the early 1990s. This is when many troubled past issues entered the public sphere from various vantage points and in various ways, including the Holocaust, the Roma genocide, forced sexual labour of women and rape as a war crime, the Polish–Ukrainian conflicts, the Polish anti-Semitism and the role of Poles in the Nazi genocide, the participation of Poles in the communist regime and in oppositional movement against the regime. These and many other elements of the Polish troubled past have been used and abused in public debates, in which participate politicians, cultural and artistic institutions, writers and artists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academics.
Although in post-1989 Poland this conversation has been multidimensional, two dominant competing trends/narratives can be distinguished: the so-called ‘pedagogy of shame’ versus the so-called ‘patriotic pride’. The former one is associated with European integration, modernization, emancipation and equality within the European Union (EU), where Poland features as a partner who has worked through its historical traumas, recompensated for the guilt and so on. It was called the ‘pedagogy of shame’ by right-wing historians and journalists. On the other hand, ‘patriotic pride’ is associated with nationalistic, Catholic, conservative and anti-European positions.
About the Authors
- Rok Zupančič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Faris Kočan, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia, Kenneth Andresen, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Katarzyna Bojarska, Uniwersytet SWPS, Poland, Ricardo Dacosta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Seamus Farrell, Dublin City University, Anke Fiedler, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Abit Hoxha, Universitetet i Agder, Norway, Nikandros Ioannidis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Niamh Kirk, University of Limerick, Irene Martín, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Dimitra L. Milioni, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Dionysis Panos, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Marta Paradés, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Tomasz Rawski, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Poland, Vasiliki Triga, Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou, Tjaša Vučko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
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- Troubled Pasts in Europe
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- 25 January 2024
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- 29 September 2023, pp vii-ix
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