Lavinia Stan

Lavinia Stan (born 1966) is a professor of political science at St. Francis Xavier University in Canada, known for her work on post-communist democratization. She is a prominent figure in transitional justice scholarship, religion and politics, as well as democratization studies.

Education and career

After obtaining a degree from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies,
she emigrated to Canada in 1991. Stan then earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto. Stan is a Professor of Political Science at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. In November 2024, she was appointed European Research Area (ERA) Chair at the University Lucian Blaga in Sibiu, Romania. She supervises doctoral students in Political Science at the University of Bucharest, Romania.

As Vice-President and then President of the Society for Romanian Studies, the premier international organization on Romanian Studies, in 2010-2019, she launched two key publication venues in the field of Romanian Studies: a book series sponsored jointly by the SRS and the largest academic publisher in Romania, Polirom, and the peer-reviewed ''Journal of Romanian Studies''. She has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed ''Women's Studies International Forum'', a high-impact scholarly review published by Elsevier. In December 2023, she was appointed Editor of '' East European Politics and Societies'', one of the leading academic journals publishing on that region. Stan has also served as an expert witness in a dozen of cases on deportation and asylum, as well as property restitution and corruption, in American and British courts. She is a member of the editorial boards of several journals.

Publications

Lavinia Stan is well-known for her contributions in three major areas: transitional justice, religion and politics, and democratization broadly conceived. Her work has been funded by Horizon Europe, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Brian Mulroney Institute of Governance, the British Arts and Humanities Research Council, Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security of the European Commission, and other institutions to the tune of over 3 million Euros.

In her works on religion and politics in post-communist Romania, Stan made the point that the majority Orthodox Church must be reigned in, if democracy is to be consolidated. The collaboration of the Church with the communist-era secret police, the Securitate, was another research topic for her, together with the restitution of property from the Orthodox to the Greek Catholics. Stan's work on transitional justice in post-communist countries has gained wide recognition for her attention to the way in which civil society actors, even "political entrepreneurs" working in isolation from others, can advance reckoning in countries where state actors are unwilling to do so. Stan is , having helped consolidate the field internationally.

She has authored, co-authored or edited the following volumes:

Transitional justice

''Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice''
Cambridge University Press, 2023, second edition. . Co-edited with Nadya Nedelsky.
''Transitional Justice and the Former Soviet Union: Reviewing the Past, Looking toward the Future''
Cambridge University Press, 2018. . Co-edited with Cynthia M. Horne.
''Post-Communist Transitional Justice: Lessons from Twenty-Five Years of Experience''
Cambridge University Press, 2015. . Co-edited with Nadya Nedelsky.
''Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice''
Cambridge University Press, 2013, first edition. . Co-edited with Nadya Nedelsky.
''Transitional Justice in Post-Communist Romania: The Politics of Memory''
Cambridge University Press, 2013. .
''Transitional Justice in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: Reckoning with the Communist Past''
Routledge, 2009. . Romanian translation
''Prezentul trecutului recent: Lustrație și decomunizare în postcomunism''
Bucharest: Curtea Veche, 2010. .

Religion and politics

''Churches, Memory and Justice in Post-Communism''
Springer, 2021. . Co-edited with L. Turcescu.
''Church Reckoning with Communism in Post-1989 Romania''
Rowman & Littlefield, 2021. . Co-edited with L. Turcescu.
''Justice, Memory and Redress in Romania: New Insights''
Cambridge Scholars, 2017. . Co-edited with L. Turcescu.
''Church, State and Democracy in Expanding Europe''
Oxford University Press, 2011. . Co-authored with L. Turcescu.
''Religion and Politics in Post-communist Romania''
Oxford University Press, 2007. . Romanian translation
''Religie si politica in Romania postcomunista''
Bucharest: Curtea Veche, 2010. . Co-authored with L. Turcescu.

Democratization

''East Central Europe since 1989: Politics, Culture, and Society''
Routledge, 2024. . Co-authored with Sabrina P. Ramet.
''Post-Communist Progress and Stagnation at 35: The Case of Romania''
Springer, 2024. . Co-edited with Diane Vancea.
''Post-Communist Romania at 25: Civic and Uncivic Values and Institutions''
Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. . Co-edited with Diane Vancea.
''1989–2009: Incredibila aventura a democratiei dupa comunism''
(interviews with Western and Romanian specialists on Eastern Europe on the occasion of 20 years since the collapse of communism). Iași, Romania: Editura Institutul European, 2010. .
''Leaders and Laggards: Governance, Civicness and Ethnicity in Post-Communist Romania''
Columbia University Press, 2003. .
''Romania in Transition''
Dartmouth College Press, 1997. .

Translations into Romanian

In addition, Stan translated two volumes into Romanian:
*Étienne de La Boétie, ''Discourse on Voluntary Servitude'', trans. from French with Sabina Elena Stan. Bucharest: Universal Dalsi Press, 1994.
*Carl Schmitt, ''Political Theology'', trans. with Lucian Turcescu, Bucharest: Universal Dalsi Press, 1995.

Annual reports on Moldova and Romania

From 1997 to 2003 she published the quarterly report on the Republic of Moldova in ''East European Constitutional Review'', while since 2006 she has co-authored the annual report regarding political developments in Romania for ''European Journal of Political Research''.

References

External links

Faculty website at St. Francis Xavier UniversityPersonal blogAcademia.edu page of Lavinia StanGetcited.org page of Lavinia Stan


Society for Romanian Studies
homepage (Dec. 2024)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stan, Lavinia
Living people
People from Pitești
1966 births
Canadian political scientists
Romanian political scientists
Romanian emigrants to Canada
Women political scientists
University of Toronto alumni
Academic staff of St. Francis Xavier University
Academic staff of Dalhousie University
Academic staff of Concordia University
Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies alumni