The Government’s Remembrance Policy: Five Theoretical Hypotheses

• Authors: Patryk Wawrzyński
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Remembrance is a powerful instrument of social mobilisation, identity construction and political competition. Its impact on individual and shared beliefs or attitudes makes it an object of government’s interest, because remembrance can be used to legitimise ideologies or policies. Theoretical considerations of a government’s role as a narrator lead us to the general definition of the government’s remembrance policy, which we understand as a complex of narratives and interpretations presented to influence citizens’ attitudes, behaviours, beliefs and identities. The paper develops the definition with five theoretical hypotheses on the effectiveness of remembrance narratives. It argues that the government’s remembrance policy is myth-motoric, non-scientific, emotional, based on commitment and that it is a type of social influence. The study is an initial verification of theoretical approach, and I believe that my arguments will motivate other researchers to investigate different aspects of a government’s desire to narrate past events.

Keywords

EN

government’s remembrance policy; politics of memory; political influence; political behaviour; political attitudes

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
• Journal: Polish Political Science Yearbook
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 1 (46)
• Pages: 294–312

Dates

online

2017-06-01

Contributors

author

Patryk Wawrzyński

• Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń

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Notes

EN

The paper is a result of the project “Commitment, positive vs. negative emotions and the efficacy of politics of memory” supported by the National Science Centre (Poland), on the basis of decision no. DEC-2013/09/N/HS5/03103 and the project “Role of emotions in an influence of remembrance narratives. Multi-level analysis” supported by the National Science Centre (Poland), on the basis of decision no. DEC-2016/21/B/HS5/00188.

Identifiers

DOI

10.15804/ppsy2017119