Affirmative amnesia and conservative crits. Some remarks on the condition of critical legal thought in Central and Eastern Europe

Keywords: affirmative amnesia, critical legal thought, conservatism

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze the causes and effects of two phenomena, which can be considered as characteristic of the critical legal discourse in Central and Eastern Europe. The first phenomenon is sometimes termed as „affirmative amnesia”. It consists of the abandonment of critical methodology by legal scholars who have dealt with the Marxist critique of the neoliberal law for the major period of their careers. The author tries to diagnose the cause of this phenomenon. The second of these trends lies in the fact that the critical tools that are used on the West mostly by left-wing thinkers, in Central and Eastern Europe are applied by conservative rightists.