Beyond Lustration Truth-Seeking Efforts in the Post-Communist Space

Abstract

While the topic of transitional justice in the post-communist world has been largely constrained to discourse on one subject, lustration, this essay highlights the varied nature of transitional justice policies that have taken root in the region. The overemphasis on lustration, and especially the most controversial elements of lustration policies, the essay argues, has distorted our grasp of communist-era rights abuses and detracted from our broader understanding of transitional justice in the entire post-communist region. Lustration is important, but its prevalence is emblematic of a broader process being carried out in search of ”the truth.” Here, the essay uses lustration as a launching pad to explore the variety of truth-revelation procedures that have been enacted in countries from two geographical subregions of the former Soviet Union (the Baltics and Central Asia) and two subregions of Central Europe (northern and southern). This sampling of just one justice sphere, the essay concludes, highlights the need to reassess justice in the region more generally.