Settling Accounts

Violence, Justice, and Accountability in Postsocialist Europe
Erscheinungsjahr 1997
ISBN: 978-0-691-01681-8
Verlag: Princeton University Press

Buch, Englisch, 216 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 358 g

Reihe: Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History

As new states in the former East bloc begin to reckon with their criminal pasts in the years following a revolutionary change of regimes, a basic pattern emerges: In those states where some form of retributive justice has been publicly enacted, there has generally been much less of a recourse to collective retributive violence. In Settling Accounts, John Borneman explores the attempts by these aspiring democratic states to invoke the principles of the "rule of law" as a means of achieving retributive justice, that is, convicting wrongdoers and restoring dignity to victims of moral injuries. Democratic regimes, Borneman maintains, require a strict form of accountability that holds leaders responsible for acts of criminality. This accountability is embodied in the principles of the rule of law, and retribution is at the moral center of these principles.Drawing from his ethnographic work in the former East Germany and with select comparisons to other East-Central European states, Borneman critically examines the construction of categories of criminality. He argues against the claims that economic growth, liberal democracy, or acts of reconciliation are adequate means to legitimate the transformed East bloc states. The cycles of violence in states lacking a system of retributive justice help to support this claim. Invocation of the principles of the rule of law must be seen as a chance for a more democratic, more accountable, and less violent world.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Borneman, John

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltpolitik, Umweltprotokoll
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophische Anthropologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Umwelt- und Gesundheitspolitik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPt. 1Framing, Comparing, Historicizing1Ch. 1Framing the Rule of Law in East-Central Europe3Ch. 2Comparing: Decommunization - Recommunization - Reform?26Ch. 3Historicizing the Rule of Law40Pt. 2Ethnography of Criminality57Ch. 4The Invocation of the Rechtsstaat in East Germany: Governmental and Unification Criminality59Ch. 5Accountability on Trial80Pt. 3Ethnography of Vindication97Ch. 6Democratic Accountability: Results, Evaluations, Ramifications99Ch. 7Justice and Dignity: Victims, Vindication, and Accountability111Pt. 4Legitimacy137Ch. 8The Rule of Law and the State: Violence, Justice, and Legitimacy139Notes167Bibliography177Index187Name Index195