- Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Niké Wentholt
University of Groningen, Contemporary History, Faculty Member
- PhD Candidate researching how the European Union accession prospect influenced political dealing with the past in Bul... morePhD Candidate researching how the European Union accession prospect influenced political dealing with the past in Bulgaria and Serbia.
As a historian, I aim to give proper due to the complexity of EU enlargement. I thus look at practice as well as narrative when I study the EU's attitude on the past in its accession space. Turning to the domestic sphere, I study how political parties acted upon and used these conditions and frames in constructing their attitudes towards (dealing with) the past.edit
This edited volum connects the past and present by studying the process of transitional justice in the Western Balkans, supported by case studies from other parts of the world.
Research Interests:
The Bulgarian archival law was adopted a few weeks before Bulgaria entered the European Union (EU) on the first of January 2007. The chapter investigates the dynamics between the domestic political debate on disclosure of the former... more
The Bulgarian archival law was adopted a few weeks before Bulgaria entered the European Union (EU) on the first of January 2007. The chapter investigates the dynamics between the domestic political debate on disclosure of the former communist state security files and EU accession. Paying attention to the EU’s normative status and discourse, it is argued that the prospect of a future in the European Union created a momentum that was actively used by individual actors within the European Union and Bulgaria. On the basis of political party and parliamentary accounts as well as EU documents, this chapter analyzes how this international context interacted with long-existing domestic political strategies pro and con archival disclosure.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The European Union (EU) developed a state-building strategy for the aspiring member states in the Western Balkans. Demanding full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the EU made... more
The European Union (EU) developed a state-building strategy for the aspiring member states in the Western Balkans. Demanding full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the EU made transitional justice part of the accession demands. Scholars have recently criticized the EU’s limited focus on retributive justice as opposed to restorative justice. This paper goes beyond such impact-orientated analyses by asking why the EU engaged with retributive transitional justice in the first place. The EU constructed ICTY-conditionality by mirroring its own post-Second World War experiences to the envisioned post-conflict trajectory of the Western Balkans. The EU therefore expected the court to contribute to reconciliation, democratization and the rule of law. Using Serbia as a case study, this article examines the conditionality’s context, specificities and discursive claims. Finally, it relates these findings to the agenda of a promising regional ...
Research Interests:
This handbook provides the first systematic integrated analysis of the role that states or state actors play in the construction of history and public memory after 1945. The book focuses on many different forms of state-sponsored history,... more
This handbook provides the first systematic integrated analysis of the role that states or state actors play in the construction of history and public memory after 1945. The book focuses on many different forms of state-sponsored history, including memory laws, monuments and memorials, state-archives, science policies, history in schools, truth commissions, historical expert commissions, the use of history in courts and tribunals etc. The handbook contributes to the study of history and public memory by combining elements of state-focused research in separate fields of study. By looking at the state’s memorialising capacities the book introduces an analytical perspective that is not often found in classical studies of the state. The handbook has a broad geographical focus and analyses cases from different regions around the world. The volume mainly tackles democratic contexts, although dictatorial regimes are not excluded.
[Contributing authors: Ąžuolas Bagdonas, Onur Bakiner, Tomas Balkelis, Denise Bentrovato, Berber Bevernage, Luigi Cajani, José Gabriel Cristancho Altuzarra, Kurt W. Clausen, Rommel A. Curaming, Violeta Davoliūtė, Antoon De Baets, Pierre-Olivier de Broux, Ramses Delafontaine, Francesca Dominello, Lawrence Douglas, Cornelia Eisler, Oz Frankel, Idesbald Goddeeris, Richard J. Golsan, Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, Martha Cecilia Herrera Cortés; Gisele Iecker de Almeida; Matt James; Michael Karabinos; Alexander Karn; Dora Komnenović , Stiina Löytömäki, Lynn Lemisko, Seiko Mimaki, Gotelind Müller-Saini, Ewa Ochman, Carol Pertuz-Bedoya, Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Vladimir Petrović, Eva-Clarita Pettai, Gertjan Plets, Ilaria Porciani, Lutz Raphael, Erna Rijsdijk, Achim Rohde, Stephan Scheuzger, Nina Schneider, Peter Seixas, Dorothea Staes, Pietro Sullo, Shanti Sumartojo, Patrizia Violi, Torsten Weber, Ben Wellings, Niké Wentholt, Christian Wicke, Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, Nico Wouters]
[Contributing authors: Ąžuolas Bagdonas, Onur Bakiner, Tomas Balkelis, Denise Bentrovato, Berber Bevernage, Luigi Cajani, José Gabriel Cristancho Altuzarra, Kurt W. Clausen, Rommel A. Curaming, Violeta Davoliūtė, Antoon De Baets, Pierre-Olivier de Broux, Ramses Delafontaine, Francesca Dominello, Lawrence Douglas, Cornelia Eisler, Oz Frankel, Idesbald Goddeeris, Richard J. Golsan, Nasia Hadjigeorgiou, Martha Cecilia Herrera Cortés; Gisele Iecker de Almeida; Matt James; Michael Karabinos; Alexander Karn; Dora Komnenović , Stiina Löytömäki, Lynn Lemisko, Seiko Mimaki, Gotelind Müller-Saini, Ewa Ochman, Carol Pertuz-Bedoya, Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Vladimir Petrović, Eva-Clarita Pettai, Gertjan Plets, Ilaria Porciani, Lutz Raphael, Erna Rijsdijk, Achim Rohde, Stephan Scheuzger, Nina Schneider, Peter Seixas, Dorothea Staes, Pietro Sullo, Shanti Sumartojo, Patrizia Violi, Torsten Weber, Ben Wellings, Niké Wentholt, Christian Wicke, Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, Nico Wouters]
The European Union (EU) developed a state-building strategy for the aspiring member states in the Western Balkans. Demanding full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the EU made... more
The European Union (EU) developed a state-building strategy for the aspiring member states in the Western Balkans. Demanding full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the EU made transitional justice part of the accession demands. Scholars have recently criticized the EU’s limited focus on retributive justice as opposed to restorative justice. This paper goes beyond such impact-orientated analyses by asking why the EU engaged with retributive transitional justice in the first place. The EU constructed ICTY-conditionality by mirroring its own post-Second World War experiences to the envisioned post-conflict trajectory of the Western Balkans. The EU therefore expected the court to contribute to reconciliation, democratization and the rule of law. Using Serbia as a case study, this article examines the conditionality’s context, specificities and discursive claims. Finally, it relates these findings to the agenda of a promising regional initiative prioritizing restorative justice (RECOM) and sheds new light on the impact of ICTY-conditionality on transitional justice in the Western Balkans.
Research Interests:
This edited volum connects the past and present by studying the process of transitional justice in the Western Balkans, supported by case studies from other parts of the world. This book is based upon research by Master students from... more
This edited volum connects the past and present by studying the process of transitional justice in the Western Balkans, supported by case studies from other parts of the world.
This book is based upon research by Master students from the University of Groningen, edited by Dr. Sipke de Hoop, Niké Wentholt MSc and Jelle Wytse de Boer BA
This book is based upon research by Master students from the University of Groningen, edited by Dr. Sipke de Hoop, Niké Wentholt MSc and Jelle Wytse de Boer BA