Working memory

Memory, understood as a complex process of reconstructing the past, is one of many social constructs that function to preserve the past while proving the legitimacy of the present. Seen from this angle, the administrative memory, as preserved in its archives, enables the administrative state to develop its present action. As such, memory is above all a process: its workings are always selective, and choices are made not on the basis of objective scientific reasoning but in the light of current ideals and ideologies. Memory, in this context, can be seen as referring to an “institutional fantasy.” Since the passion for storing archives often goes along with the illusion of transparency, it is all the more necessary to reflect on our relationship to the past in order to better understand the meaning of the administrative state’s traditions and the theologico-juridical foundations of our system.