Twenty Years of Transitional Justice in the Czech Lands

Abstract

Nascent democracies usually adopt measures of transitional justice to deal with the legacies of undemocratic regimes. This article examines one of the most comprehensive programmes of transitional justice which has been implemented in the Czech Republic since 1990. Based on a survey conducted in 2010, 10 policies are assessed by means of descriptive statistics, and by examining their effect on the perception of justice, truth and reconciliation. Property restitution is viewed as the most successful policy for dealing with the past; it contributes to the positive perception of both justice and truth but it undermines the perception of reconciliation.

Notes

This project was supported by the British Academy (Grant BH090805). I would like to thank the British Academy for its support and two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

¹For example, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Act (1995), Truth and Reconciliation Act [National Unity and Reconciliation Act] (1995) No. 34 of 1995 (South Africa), available at: http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/1995-034.pdf, accessed 31 January 2012.

²Constitutional Act on the Return of the Property of the Communist Party to the People of the Czech and Slovak Republic (1990) No. 496/1990, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

³Constitutional Act on the Return of the Property of the Socialist Association of the Youth to the People of the Czech and Slovak Republic (1990) No. 497/1990, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

⁴Federal Assembly, The 8th Session, 16 November 1990, available at: http://www.psp.cz/eknih/1990fs/slsn/stenprot/008schuz/s008009.htm, accessed 31 January 2012.

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⁶Act (Legal Directive of the Board of the Federal Assembly) on Some Tentative Measures Necessary to the Strengthening of Public Order (1969) No. 99/1969, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

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¹¹European Convention on Human Rights, Council of Europe (1950), available at: http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html, accessed 9 February 2012.

¹²Act on Extra-Judicial Rehabilitations (1991) No. 87/1991, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

¹³Government Directive on the Payment of One-off Compensation to Alleviate some Wrongs Created by the Communist Regime (1997) No. 165/1997, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

¹⁴Act on Persons in Military Labour Camps (2001) No. 261/2001, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

¹⁵Government Directive on the Payment of One-off Compensation to Alleviate some Wrongs Created by the Communist Regime to Persons in Military Camps of Forced Labour (2002) No. 102/2002, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

¹⁶Act on the Compensation of Persons Abducted to the USSR or to the Camps Created by the USSR in other states (2002) No. 172/2002, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

¹⁷Government Directive on the Compensation of University Students who were not Allowed to Complete their Education due to Political Reasons (2009) No. 122/2009, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

¹⁸Government Directive on Providing One-off Compensation to Alleviate some Wrongs Created by the Communist Regime (2009) No. 135/2009, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

¹⁹Act on Extra-Judicial Rehabilitations (1991) No. 87/1991, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

²⁰Act on the Access to Files Created by Activity of the Former State Security (1996) No. 140/1996, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

²¹Amendment to the Act on the Access to Files Created by Activity of the Former State Security (2002) No. 107/2002, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

²²Archives Act (2004) No. 499/2004, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

²³Act on Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and on the Archive of Security Services and on Other Amendments (2007) No. 181/2007, available at: http://aplikace.mvcr.cz/sbirka-zakonu/GetAll.aspx, accessed 31 January 2012.

²⁴The Likert scale is a symmetric, one-dimensional (linear) scale, which allows respondents to express the degree of their agreement and disagreement with a particular statement.