Transitional Justice in Balance: Comparing Processes, Weighing Efficacy - Softcover

Olsen, Tricia D.; Payne, Leigh A.; Reiter, Andrew G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1601270534 ISBN 13: 9781601270535

Publisher: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2010

Synopsis

Since the 1970s, countries emerging from dictatorship or civil war have increasingly employed a variety of transitional justice mechanisms to address past human rights violations and to promote reconciliation and democracy. Myriad articles and books have focused on this phenomenon without shedding much light on why a country chooses one mechanism over another, why some countries combine mechanisms, or why some mechanisms work better under certain conditions than others. In the first project of its kind to compare multiple mechanisms and combinations of mechanisms across regions, countries, and time, "Transitional Justice in Balance: Comparing Processes, Weighing Efficacy" systematically analyzes the claims made in the literature using a vast array of data, which the authors have assembled in the Transitional Justice Data Base. Trials, truth commissions, amnesties, reparations, and lustration policies-the main focus of the literature to date-are among the 854 transitional justice mechanisms, which were implemented in 161 countries from 1970 to 2007 and included in this database. The authors use the database to explore the adoption of transitional justice and its effectiveness in achieving its primary goals. The authors conclude that transitional justice has a positive and significant impact on human rights and democracy in the societies that adopt it, but that it is the combination and sequence of mechanisms that achieves this effect, not any one mechanism alone. In clear, lucid text that scholars and policymakers can easily follow, the authors contend that a justice balance that combines trials and amnesties, with or without truth commissions, is crucial for success in societies seeking improvements in democracy and human rights after conflict.

About this title

About the Author

Tricia Olsen is associate dean of undergraduate programs and associate professor in the Department of Business Ethics and Legal Studies. She is also the Marcus Faculty Fellow. Olsen teaches and studies about the political economy of development in emerging economies, with a focus on Latin America. In addition to publishing widely in business ethics, management and political science outlets, she has consulted for the United Nations Business & Human Rights Working Group and the World Bank, among other organizations. Olsen's work has been funded by USAID, NSF, the British Academy and the Carnegie Corporation. She is the co-director of the Daniels-Korbel Global Business and Corporate Social Responsibility Certificate. Leigh A. Payne is a professor of sociology and Latin American studies at Oxford University, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and visiting professor of political science and global studies at the University of Minnesota. A leading specialist on responses to atrocity, she is the author of Unsettling Accounts: Neither Truth nor Reconciliation in Confessions of State Violence. Andrew G. Reiter is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations and Chair of Politics at Mount Holyoke College. Reiter's research agenda is centered on understanding the effectiveness of policies that reduce violence. These include policies that aim to secure peace where violence is already occurring, as well as those intended to deter or prevent future violence. Reiter's most recent book Fighting Over Peace: Spoilers, Peace Agreements, and the Strategic Use of Violence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), explains why some civil war peace agreements are implemented rather peacefully while others come under attack from a variety of violent actors. Furthermore, it shows why these attempts at "spoiling" peace prove successful following some agreements and not others. In examining the conditions under which spoilers arise, and their ultimate impact on peace processes, he uses an original dataset of spoiling following over 300 civil war peace agreements in the post-Cold War era. Reiter is also a co-founder of the Transitional Justice Data Base Project and a collaborator on the Transitional Justice Research Collaborative, both of which have produced comprehensive, global datasets of trials, truth commissions, amnesties, reparations, and lustration programs used by states over the past four decades to engage past human rights violations. The projects have received funding from a number of sources, including the National Science Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, and the Smith Richardson Foundation. Stemming from these projects, Reiter is a co-author of a book Transitional Justice in Balance: Comparing Processes, Weighing Efficacy (United States Institute of Peace Press, 2010), as well as numerous articles and book chapters in such venues as Human Rights Quarterly, International Studies Review, and Journal of Peace Research. In a third project (with Brett Kyle), Reiter examines the use of military courts to shield armed forces personnel from accountability for human rights abuses. They have published two articles on military courts in Latin America. They are now in the process of writing a book manuscript covering the topic globally. At Mount Holyoke, Reiter regularly teaches World Politics, Transitional Justice, Political Violence, International Law and Organization, and Ending War and Securing the Peace.

Edition details

• Publisher: United States Institute of Peace Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1601270534
• ISBN 13: 9781601270535
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248