[MGSA-L] Princeton Hellenic Studies Lecture: October 16, 2012

Dimitri H. Gondicas gondicas at Princeton.EDU
Wed Oct 10 07:29:49 PDT 2012


PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies

Lecture

The Politics of Exhumations and Reconciliation in Southern Europe: Cyprus, Spain, and Greece

Iosif Kovras
ikovras at princeton.edu <mailto:%20%20%20%20%20%20ikovras at princeton.edu%20%20%20%20%20%20>
Mary Seeger O'Boyle Postdoctoral Fellow, Hellenic Studies

Respondent: Elizabeth Davis, Anthropology

This lecture will investigate exhumations-the decision by political elites to unearth the bodies of the victims of civil conflict or an authoritarian regime to honor human rights petitions and promote justice. Why do some post-conflict societies defer the recovery of those who forcibly disappeared, even after a fully-fledged democratic regime is consolidated? More interestingly, why do the same societies decide to unearth certain inconvenient aspects of their past, albeit after a considerable delay? The prolonged silences in Cyprus, Greece, and Spain contradict the experience of other countries -- such as South Africa, Bosnia, and Guatemala -- where truth recovery for disappeared/missing persons was a central element of the transition to peace and democracy. Despite democratization, the exhumation of mass graves containing the victims from the two periods of violence in Cyprus (1963-1974) and the Spanish civil war (1936-1939) was delayed until the early 2000s, when both countries decided to deal with a violent chapter of their past. This, in fact, is an increasing trend among countries trying to come to terms with former violence. Interestingly, Greece continues to resist this norm.

Iosif Kovras received his Ph.D. from Queen's University Belfast (2011) and his M.Sc. in International Politics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (2006). His research interests include comparative post-conflict democratization, transitional justice, mobilization of grassroots actors and symbolic politics. Currently he is working on two overlapping lines of research. The first investigates why societies that have successfully democratized at the end of a conflict delay truth recovery for missing persons, with particular emphasis on the comparative experience of Cyprus, Greece, and Spain. The second examines the political and social reactions to the sovereign debt crisis in Southern Europe. His first book Truth recovery and Transitional Justice: Deferring Human Rights Issues is forthcoming with Routledge.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Scheide Caldwell House, Room 103



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