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How not to deal with the past: lustration in Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Barbara A. Misztal
Barbara A. Misztal
Affiliation:
Griffith University, (Nathan,).
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Abstract

By looking at the history of the Polish lustration — the policy of checking the past of candidates for important positions — this article argues that although the lustration law has been finally passed at the end of 1998, Poland's dealing with the past is still full of unresolved and deeply ambivalent problems due to the nature of its postcommunist transition and the nature of the newly constructed political institutions. These conditions were shaped by the relative strength of the Polish anti-communist opposition, which credibility within the society permitted it to accept a compromise with the old regime. The undetermined character of many of Poland's political institutions have accelerated the use of the issue of retrospective justice in the partisan politics, which in turn has limited the opportunity for consensual policy, and therefore has reduced societal trust of the political parties, while at the same time increased the demand for the purification of the political system.

Une loi d'épuration a été promulguée en Pologne en 1998. Néanmoins, le rapport au passé y est ambigü et lourd de problémes non résolus, liés aux modalités de la transition et au nouveau systéme institutionnel. La force de L'opposition anti-communiste polonaise et sa crédibilité ont en effet permis un compromis avec l'ancien régime. La souplesse de nombre de nouvelles institutions a favorise la mise en cause judiciaire du passé sur des bases partisanes. D'où, par contrecoup, une domination de Pespace pour une politique consensueile et une reduction de la confiance de la société sans tes partis, cependant que la demande d'epuration du systeme politique ne fait qu'augmenter.

Wenn man die Geschichte der polnischen überprüfung betrachtet — Bewerber auf wichrige Positionen werden seit dem Gesetzesbeschluß von 1998 auf ihre Vergangenheit hin iiberpriift — so argumentiert dieser Beitrag, dann zeichnet sich Polens Vergangenheitsbewältigung noch immer durch zahlreiche ungeloste und tief ambivalente Probleme aus, die von der Wende zum Postkommunismus und der Gestalt der neuen politischen Institutionen herruhren. Die relative Stärke der antikommunistischen Opposition Polens hat einen KompromiB mit dem alten Regime erlaubt. Die vage Definition vieler polnischen Institutionen hat zu einer parteiergreifenden Politik der Vergangenheitsbewältigung gefuhrt und im Gegenzug die Gelegenheit zu einer konsensuellen Politik begrenzt. Das Vertrauen der Bevölkerung in die Parteien wurde geschmalert, die Nachfrage nach einer Musterung des politischen Systems gleichzeitiggesteigert.

Type
Lustration
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , May 1999 , pp. 31 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Archives Européenes de Sociology 1999

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