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Roman David

Professor

Lingnan University

Hong Kong

Tel. +852-2616-7126

E-mail: roman.328@gmail.com

I work in the are of political sociology, focusing on transitional (historical) justice and collective memory. I examine effects of transitional justice measures on victims, perpetrators and society. The common feature of my research projects is the examination of the malleability of human nature and the social utility of the concept of a second chance. I use survey experiments, experiments, and micro-level surveys. Previously, I worked at Newcastle University (reader), Yale (postdoc), Wits, South Africa (postdoc), Masaryk (lecturer), Harvard (visiting), and Oxford (visiting).

Current Projects:

My current project concerns the area of transitional justice and reconciliation. I am interested in examining the contribution of truth commissions, criminal tribunals, amnesties, shaming penalties, apology diplomacy, and other measures to reconciliation in divided societies. My research sites are Croatia, The Czechlands, South Africa, South Korea and Myanmar.

Past Projects:

In 2018, I completed (together with Ian Holliday) an RGC funded project on democratization in Myanmar. We examined the prospect for greater democracy and tolerance by means of historical, legal, political and social inquiry. I proposed the concept of limited liberalism that captures divergent elements of political culture, which is typical for illiberal democracies.

In 2015, I concluded a research project on dealing with the communist past in the Czech Republic. The project examined the effects of transitional justice on victims, perpetrators and society by means of qualitative, survey and experimental methods. A broad range of TJ measures, including truth-sharing, compensation, acknowledgment, punishment, shaming, apology, etc. on victims' healing and redress, personal and inter-generational transformation of communists, justice and reconciliation in society, class transformation and attitude to the past regime have been examined in one context. The major theoretical contribution of the project is a transformative theory of justice.

In 2010, I completed a major research project on lustration systems in Central Europe. This project has resulted in several papers and a book monograph Lustration and Transitional Justice, which was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2011. In 2012, the book won the Concept Analysis in Political Science Award, which is triannually awarded by the Committee on Concepts and Methods of the International Political Science Association (IPSA).

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Books:

Articles in English:

  • Roman David, “What we know about transitional justice: Survey and experimental evidence.”, Advances in Political Psychology 2017, Vol. 38, Suppl. 1, 151-177.

  • Roman David, The past or the politics of the present? Dealing with the Japanese occupation of South Korea, Contemporary Politics 2016, 22 (1), 57 - 76.

  • Roman David, “International Criminal Tribunals and the Perception of Justice: The Effect of the ICTY in Croatia”, International Journal of Transitional Justice 2014, 8(3): 476-495.

  • R. David & H. Mzioudet, “Personnel Change or Personal Change? The Political Isolation Law and Its Alternatives in Libya [إعادة النظر في قانون العزل السياسي في ليبيا:تغييرٌ في الوجوه أم تغييرٌ في السلوك؟]” Brookings-Stanford Paper (forthcoming in March 2014).

  • Choi, S.Y.P., Cheung, A.K.L., Cheung, Y.W., David, R., "Bring the Subjective Back: Resources and husband-to-wife physical assault among Chinese Couples in Hong Kong." Violence Against Women (VAW) 2014, 20: 1428-1446.

  • Roman David, "Transitional Justice and Changing Memories of the Past in Central Europe", Government & Opposition, 2015, 50(1): 24-44.

  • Susanne Y.P. Choi, Roman David, "Lustration Systems and Trust: Evidence from Survey Experiments in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland." American Journal of Sociology 2012, 117(4), 1172-1201.

  • Roman David, "Twenty Years of Transitional Justice in the Czech Lands." Europe-Asia Studies 2012, 64(4), 761-84.

  • Roman David and Ian Holliday, International Sanctions or International Justice? Shaping the Future in Myanmar. Australian Journal of International Affairs 2012, 66(2), 121-138.

  • Roman David, Transitions to Clean Government: Amnesty as an Anticorruption Measure, Australian Journal of Political Science 2010, 45(3), 391-406.

  • Roman David, Susanne Y.P. Choi. "Getting Even, or Getting Equal? Retributive Desires and Transitional Justice." Political Psychology 2009, 30(2), 161-192.

  • Roman David, Susanne Y.P. Choi, "Forgiveness and transitional justice in the Czech Republic." Journal of Conflict Resolution 2006, 50(3), 339-367.

  • Roman David. "From Prague to Baghdad: Lustration systems and their political effects." Government and Opposition 2006, 41(3), 347-372.

  • Roman David, "Lustration laws in action: The motives and evaluation of lustration policy in the Czech Republic and Poland (1989-2001)." Law and Social Inquiry 2003, 28(2), 387-439.

  • Roman David; Susanne Y.P. Choi, "Victims on transitional justice: lessons from the reparation of human rights abuses in the Czech Republic." Human Rights Quarterly 2005, 27(2), 392-435.

  • Roman David; Ian Holliday, "Set the Junta free: Pre-transitional justice in Myanmar’s democratization." Australian Journal of Political Science 2006, 41(1), 91-105.

  • Roman David, "In exchange for truth: The Polish lustration & the South African amnesty process." Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 2006, 32(1), 81-99.

  • Roman David, "Transitional injustice? Criteria for conformity of lustration to the right to political expression." Europe-Asia Studies 2004, 56(6), 789-812.

Book Chapters:

  • R. David and C.M. Horne, "Lustration and Personnel Reform". In R. Cryer and H. Yusuf eds (submitted)

  • R. David, "Transitional Justice". In William Outhwaite and Stephen P. Turner eds. The Sage Handbook of Political Sociology, London: Sage, 2018, pp. 893-908.

  • R. David, “Ukrainian Lustration and Democracy Capable of Defending Itself.” In Lavinia Stan and Cynthia Horne eds., Transitional Justice in the Former Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp.135-154.

  • R. David, “Lustration and Transitional Justice”. In George Ritzer et al. eds., Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd edition, 2017.

  • R. David, “Transitional Justice Effects in the Czech Republic.” In: Stan, L; and Nedelsky, N, eds. Post-Communist Transitional Justice: Lessons from 25 Years of Experience, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

  • Choi SYP; David R. "Law Enforcement, Public Health, and HIV/AIDS in China. In: Harris PG; Siplon PD, ed. The Global Politics of AIDS. London: Lynne Rienner, 2007.

  • David R. Rehabilitation of Political Prisoners. In: Stan, L; Nedelsky, N, ed. The Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

  • David R. The Czech Republic. In: Stan, L; Nedelsky, N, ed. The Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

  • David R. Retribution. In: Stan, L; Nedelsky, N, ed. The Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice. Cambridge University Press, 2012.