Abstract
While interest for the mediation of memory has grown considerably over the past decade, much of the literature in this field remains confined to small-scale case studies drawn from particular national environments. This is true of memory studies more generally as well: comparative, cross-national research is a rarity in the field. This volume is different: it systematically compares commemorations of the fall of communism in 1989/1991 across 17 Eastern and Central European countries, and does so by drawing on an original theoretical framework for understanding the politics of memory. This framework encompasses two key concepts: ‘mnemonic actors’, understood as the political forces interested in a particular version of the past, and ‘mnemonic regimes’, defined as the prevailing patterns of memory politics in a given society at a particular moment in time and with reference to a specific past event or issue. In their theoretical chapter, Bernhard and Kubik introduce four different types of mnemonic actors (mnemonic warriors, mnemonic pluralists, mnemonic abnegators, and mnemonic prospectives) which adopt different strategies of memory politics, and three kinds of mnemonic regimes (fractured, pillarized and unified) which differ in the mix of mnemonic actors involved and the memory politics these give rise to. The editors also identify the causal factors that shape the formation of mnemonic actors and regimes, such as structural constraints (e.g. the type of state socialism) and cultural constraints (historically formed narratives and themes), and reflect on the implications of different memory regimes for the quality of democracy. This is followed by 17 in-depth studies of individual countries, wrapped up by a concluding chapter that synthesizes the results, maps the different memory regimes the countries belong to and identifies the causal recipes that give rise to different types of regimes. Although not focused on communication, this volume has much to offer to readers of the media and communication scholars, especially those interested in developing comparative research on issues of cultural politics and commemoration. It can also serve as an invitation to consider the role of the media as one of the possible mnemonic actors, or even (at a systemic level) one of the causal factors influencing mnemonic regimes and actors. These issues do not receive much consideration in this volume, but certainly deserve to be examined in depth.