A close examination of an
understudied European Union member state such as Romania reveals that, since
1989, post-communist state and non-state actors have adopted a wide range of
methods, processes, and practices of working through the communist past. Both
the timing and the sequencing of these transitional justice methods prove to be
significant in determining the efficacy of addressing and redressing the crimes
of 1945 to 1989. In addition, there is evidence that some of these methods have
directly facilitated the democratization process, while the absence of other
methods has undermined the rule of law. This is the first volume to overview
the complex Romanian transitional justice effort, by accessing secret archives
and investigating court trials of former communist perpetrators, lustration,
compensation and rehabilitation, property restitution, the truth commission,
the rewriting of history books, and unofficial truth projects. It details the
political negotiations that have led to the adoption of relevant legislation
and assesses these processes in terms of their timing, sequencing, and impact
on democratization. The preface to the book is signed by Prof. Mark Kramer,
Harvard University.