The Enlightenment, Public Memory, Liberalism, and the Post-Communist World
The Enlightenment, Public Memory, Liberalism, and the Post-Communist World

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the central role of public memory of radical injustice— or the systematic denial by a regime of the principle of equal respect for persons under the rule of law—in creating and preserving a liberal democratic regime. My contention is that, in the aftermath of the Enlightenment, efforts to deny equal respect in a systematic way to entire groups of people must be remembered by a society—indeed, there is a moral obligation to do so. And when these events are remembered, the basis for establishing and maintaining the rule of law in society on behalf of civic equality is more likely. A public memory of radical injustice has become much stronger in the countries of Eastern Europe than in Russia, and I speculate what the consequences of this circumstance are likely to be for the political relationships between Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe.

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