Karolina Stenlund and Ville Erkkilä, University of Helsinki, have published the introduction to a special issue of in Law and Critique on "Memory, Law, and Politics".
This introduction to the Law and Critique special issue explores the complex interplay between collective memory, law, and politics. It argues that “moral remembrance” — the strategic use of selected pasts — shapes political legitimacy, identity formation, and legal interpretation across liberal and illiberal regimes. Rejecting teleological views of legal progress, the authors highlight how both remembering and forgetting serve ideological purposes. Contributions examine diverse contexts, from authoritarian memory regulation in the GDR and contemporary Hungary to EU and international legal frameworks surrounding Holocaust remembrance, slavery memory laws, and museum-based memory practices. Together, these studies show that law not only regulates but also constructs collective memories, influencing which histories are legitimized or suppressed. By integrating perspectives from history, legal studies, and critical theory, the issue invites readers to critically assess the political stakes of legal memory-making and the selective mobilization of history in contemporary governance.
--Dan Ernst
