Table Of ContentTransitional Justice Theories
Transitional Justice Theories is the first volume to approach the politically
sensitive subject of post-conflict or post-authoritarian justice from a theore-
tical perspective. It combines contributions from distinguished scholars and
practitioners as well as from emerging academics from different disciplines,
and provides an overview of conceptual approaches to the field. The volume
seeks to refine our understanding of transitional justice by exploring often
unarticulated assumptions that guide discourse and practice. To this end, it
offers a wide selection of approaches from various theoretical traditions ran-
ging from normative theory to critical theory. In their individual chapters,
the authors explore the concept of transitional justice itself and its founda-
tions, such as reconciliation, memory and truth, as well as intersections, such
as reparations, peace building and norm compliance.
This book will be of particular interest for scholars and students of law,
peace and conflict studies, and human rights studies. Even though highly
theoretical, the chapters provide an easy read for a wide audience including
readers not familiar with theoretical investigations.
Susanne Buckley-Zistel is Professor for Peace and Conflict Studies and
Executive Director of the Center for Conflict Studies, Philipps University
Marburg.
Teresa Koloma Beck heads a research project on urban violence at the
Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin.
Christian Braun is a political scientist and currently research fellow at the
Center for Conflict Studies, Philipps University Marburg.
Friederike Mieth is a PhD candidate in Social and Cultural Anthropology
at the Philipps University Marburg.
Transitional Justice
Series Editor: Kieran McEvoy
Queen’s University Belfast
The study of justice in transition has emerged as one of the most diverse
and intellectually exciting developments in the social sciences. From its ori-
gins in human rights activism and comparative political science, the field
is increasingly characterised by its geographic and disciplinary breadth. This
series aims to publish the most innovative scholarship from a range of
disciplines working on transitional justice-related topics, including law,
sociology,criminology,psychology,anthropology,politicalscience,development
studies and international relations.
Titles in this series:
Transitional Justice, Judicial Accountability and
the Rule of Law
Hakeem O. Yusuf (2010)
The Era of Transitional Justice: The Aftermath of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South
Africa and Beyond
Paul Gready (2010)
The Dynamics of Transitional Justice
Lia Kent (2012)
Gender Politics in Transitional Justice
Catherine O’Rourke (2013)
Identity, Reconciliation and
Transitional Justice
Nevin T. Aiken (2013)
Families of the Missing
Simon Robins (2013)
Forthcoming titles in the series:
Corporate Accountability in the Context
of Transitional Justice
Sabine Michalowski
The Concept of the Civilian
Claire Garbett
Transitional Justice and the Arab Spring
Edited by Kirsten Fisher and Robert Stewart
Truth, Denial and Transition: The Contested Past
in Northern Ireland
Cheryl Lawther
The Judiciary and the Politics of Transition: Saviours,
Scoundrels, Scapegoats
Marny Requa
The Art of Post-Dictatorship: Ethics and Aesthetics
Vikki Bell
International Trials and Reconciliation
Janine Clark
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Transitional Justice Theories
Edited by
Susanne Buckley-Zistel,
Teresa Koloma Beck, Christian Braun
and Friederike Mieth
Firstpublished2014
byRoutledge
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SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
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©2014SusanneBuckley-Zistel,TeresaKolomaBeck,ChristianBraun,
FriederikeMieth
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Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
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Contents
Contributors ix
Acknowledgements xi
List of abbreviations xii
Transitional justice theories: An introduction 1
SUSANNEBUCKLEY-ZISTEL,TERESAKOLOMABECK,
CHRISTIANBRAUNANDFRIEDERIKEMIETH
PARTI
Theorising transitional justice 17
1 Transformative justice, reconciliation and peacebuilding 19
WENDYLAMBOURNE
2 Rethinking reconciliation in divided societies: A social
learning theory of transitional justice 40
NEVINT.AIKEN
3 The plural justice aims of reparations 66
LISAJ.LAPLANTE
4 Political liberalism after mass violence: John Rawls
and a ‘ theory’ of transitional justice 85
KORAANDRIEU
5 The vertical and horizontal expansion of transitional justice:
Explanations and implications for a contested field 105
THOMASOBELHANSEN
viii Contents
PARTII
Exploring the limits of transitional justice 125
6 Bargaining justice: A theory of transitional justice compliance 127
JELENASUBOTIC´
7 Narrative truths: On the construction of the past in truth
commissions 144
SUSANNEBUCKLEY-ZISTEL
8 Redressive politics and the nexus of trauma, transitional
justice and reconciliation 163
MAGDALENAZOLKOS
9 Forgetting the embodied past: Body memory
in transitional justice 184
TERESAKOLOMABECK
10 Understanding the political economy of transitional
justice: A critical theory perspective 201
HANNAHFRANZKIANDMARIACAROLINAOLARTE
Index 222
Contributors
Nevin T. Aiken is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political
Scienceand Global& AreaStudies Programat theUniversityofWyoming.
His first book, Identity, Reconciliation and Transitional Justice: Overcoming
Intractability in Divided Societies, was published in 2013 by Routledge.
Kora Andrieu is a human rights officer and transitional justice focal point
at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights in Tunisia. She is the author of numerous works on transitional
justice and political philosophy, including La justice transitionnelle. De
l’Afrique du Sud au Rwanda (Gallimard, 2012).
Christian Braun is a political scientist and currently research fellow at the
Center for Conflict Studies, Philipps University Marburg. His main focus
of research lies on the former Yugoslavia, memory studies and transitional
justice processes.
Susanne Buckley-Zistel is Professor for Peace and Conflict Studies and
Executive Director of the Center for Conflict Studies, Philipps University
Marburg. She has published on issues related to peacebuilding, transi-
tional justice, gender and post-structural theory, including a co-edited
volume Gender in Transitional Justice (Palgrave, 2012) and a forthcoming
co-edited volume Memorials in Times of Transition (Intersentia 2013).
Hannah Franzki studied politics and law in Marburg, Montevideo and
Warwick, and is currently reading for a PhD in law at Birkbeck College,
University of London. Her research project is concerned with economic
dimensions of state crime and the writing of history in (international)
criminal trials.
Thomas Obel Hansen holds a PhD from Aarhus University Law School,
Denmark. He currently works as an independent consultant and assis-
tant professor of international law with the United States International
University in Nairobi. He has published widely on transitional justice,
international criminal law and various human rights issues.
