Transitional Justice and Democratisation: The Central and Eastern European Experience after 1989 – with Special Reference to Poland Cover Image

Transitional Justice and Democratisation: The Central and Eastern European Experience after 1989 – with Special Reference to Poland
Transitional Justice and Democratisation: The Central and Eastern European Experience after 1989 – with Special Reference to Poland

Author(s): Tomasz Lachowski
Subject(s): Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Law and Transitional Justice, Governance, Political history, Government/Political systems, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: Udruženje “Pravnik”
Keywords: Transitional justice; democracy; Poland; human rights;

Summary/Abstract: Societies in transition from totalitarian systems to democracy face the basic need to create a national approach to the repressive actions of the former regime and its officials, such as human rights violations and other abuses. One of the main issues is how to organise transitional justice mechanisms in order to set up the process of democratisation and build a ―rule of law state. This paper focuses particularly on the legal dilemmas of the Polish transition to state based on democratic values and rule of law principles after 1989. Although Poland has successfully transformed into a stable European country, a member of the European Union and other international bodies, we can still observe tensions within a society built upon the question of persons (state officials, members of the leading party, members and agents of the secret police) involved in the actions of the former regime and their potential legal (criminal) responsibilities. This paper elaborates on the selected decisions of Polish judicial bodies with reference to the German and Hungarian experiences in that field.

  • Issue Year: 2/2011
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 73-83
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English