Official memories and legal constraints: A classification of memory instruments in France and Belgium

Abstract

Public authorities do not have a monopoly over memory constraint in the sense that they are not alone in promoting collective memories. However, the article suggests a classification of the memory instruments in France and Belgium according to the degree of legal constraint (sanctioning, prescriptive and latent). This classification offers a new understanding of the exercise of the legal constraints which are a way for the public authorities to offer specific accounts of certain past events.