Memory laws, mnemonic weapons: The diffusion of a norm across Europe and beyond

Abstract

The diffusion of memory laws across Europe maps onto global trends towards legal memory protection writ large. Through applications of cosmopolitan memory and norm diffusion, this article demonstrates that differences across laws – although they derive language and sentiment from a shared global norm – also adhere to the specific memory politics of the state. The author proposes that three categories of memory law have emerged since the 1980s, each resulting from isomorphic pressures exerted by an international community with expectations of shared sociolegal human rights norms. The article concludes with a case study of recent laws in Russia (2014) and Poland (2018): both illustrative of a new nationalistic paradigm of memory laws as mnemonic weapons in ongoing memory wars. By tracing isomorphic similarities across Europe, this article reveals a mirroring of language that has recently appeared in the United States. It is with an eye towards worldwide shifts in populism that the current research remains urgent. This study offers a theoretical contribution from which memory scholars might draw when considering globally relevant mnemonic trends.