The Evolution of the Concept of Lustration Since the Antiquity to the 20th Century

Abstract

International interest in carrying out the reforms in Ukraine has forced the authorities to recognize the need for an active reform and for counteraction of possible attempts of their imitation. Therefore, the national doctrine of facing new challenges, aimed at providing concrete quality, improvement and optimization of the system of public authorities was created by the society. Special urgency of the research of the phenomenon of «lustration» in general and the lustration of the individual branches of power such as, primarily, figuring out the nature of this phenomenon is quite understandable now. It is the study of the notion, the genesis and development of the political and legal science which will allow formulating optimal definition of the new category in national doctrine. This process is extremely necessary for successful reforms and eradication of corruption and so on. This article examines the evolution of the concept of ‘lustration’ from ancient times to the present. In the primary sense of the word the «lustration» was viewed exclusively as a religious right, religious phenomenon, which did not have direct political or legal consequences. Note that the critics of lustration, which equate to political censorship or repression, usually made parallels with political and military punishments in ancient Greece and Rome, namely: ostracism, proscription and decimation. The article analyzed these procedures, the possibility of implementation of their separate elements and the appropriateness of their comparison with today’s «cleaning power» in Ukraine. Study of the genesis of the category “lustration” allows concluding that the category has gone a significant way to the development and has acquired various interpretations: an ancient ritual ceremony, a fiscal and statistical function of State, a special check of civil servants or the political censorship.