Legitimation engineering through historical memory techniques: some caveats

Crusats Padrós, Helena

Legitimation engineering through historical memory techniques: some caveats

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Citation

Crusats Padrós, H. Legitimation engineering through historical memory techniques: some caveats. 2023. handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10230/57643

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Abstract

In this thesis the interplay between political legitimation and the instrumental usage of historical memory techniques by political actors of all sorts is analyzed. It explores how historical memories are selectively constructed, manipulated, and deployed by a different set of political actors to advance their particular legitimacy claims. The concept of legitimation engineering is introduced so as to provide the literature with an effective approach to the subject enabling that real world factual problems that need solution can be properly addressed. Drawing on a mixed methods approach, a historical memory toolbox of political legitimation is presented as a result of a multiple correspondence analysis performed on a comprehensive databased obtained from carefully chosen literature cases which fulfill the thematic requirements of this thesis and encompass all kind of different techniques, motivations and actors seeking political legitimation through remembrance. By identifying common patterns and tendencies a systematic operative classification of legitimation strategies is introduced. The results obtained evince that historical memory is teleological whereas its forms of expression are contingent and depend on the subject who uses them. A wide variety of political actors of different sorts has been detected. Ultimately, this research provides critical insights into the manipulative use of historical memory for political legitimation purposes, sheds light on the consequences of such practices, and enhances public awareness to stimulate discussions about the complex interplay between memory and politics in contemporary societies.