How Power Dynamics Influence the "NorthSouth" Gap in Transitional Justice

• Published in: Berkeley journal of international law 2018-01, Vol.36 (2), p.190
• Main Authors: Fletcher, Laurel E, Weinstein, Harvey M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Criminal justice; Environmental justice; Politics; Social justice; Studies; Transitional justice
• ISSN: 1085-5718
• DOI: 10.15779/Z38QN5ZB61

Transitional justice is an area of inquiry, a set of practices, a form of politics, a career, and/or a source of hope and disappointment, to name a few of its facets. Centered on the idea that in the aftermath of mass violence or periods of repression, societies need to undergo processes to address past harm to ensure a peaceful future, transitional justice unabashedly offers itself as a moral project, a ritual cleanse. A community of interested actors advocates, funders, policy makers, practitioners, scholars, and victims is invested in its success. Although how success is defined varies with how the actor interprets the events that trigger a transitional justice response. While stakeholders are essentially in agreement around fundamental questions of goals and tactics, the community is not static. Critiques of transitional justice abound within the community, generally focused on shortcomings in theory and practice. An important part of the critique has been that transitional justice as now conceived is top-down, formulaic, overly focused on international criminal prosecutions, limited to civil and political rights, and, in the worst case, nothing but a shill for global capitalist expansion. In response, there have been calls for a transitional justice that is bottom-up; transformative; economic, social, and cultural rights-focused; and responsive to corporate complicity and to structural inequities. In turn, critics who think transitional justice continues to overpromise and overreach question this expansive agenda. Concerns are raised about a move away from an accountability-focused agenda toward interventions that are development-focused or even nation-building.