Introductory description

Transitional Justice raises many conceptual issues about the nature of law and its relationship to politics, to social change, and to a variety of different means of 'dispute resolution'.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The existing TJ field: what is TJ? TJ as transition from dictatorship to democracy under the rule of law; critique of this. TJ as about 'transition' or about 'justice', and what these terms mean. Political transition versus justice settlement.
What would a justice settlement look like: (1) in legal terms (responsibility and punishment); and (2) in ethical terms (grief, guilt and forgiveness)
Legal justice versus truth and reconciliation. Formal versus informal justice. TJ 'from above' and 'from below'.
'Everyman as genocidaire'. The limits of legal justice in transitional contexts: justice and judgment for genocidaires - Arendt on Eichmann; Joshua Oppenheimer's film, The Act of Killing (2012) - Indonesia.
Justice versus truth and reconciliation; formal versus informal justice; restorative justice - the TRC in South Africa; Gacaca courts in Rwanda.
Political transition versus justice settlement: what happens when issues are unresolved? Guilt, forgiveness and mourning: Patrizio Guzman's film, Nostalgia for the Light (2010) - Chile. Aftermath of 'successful' TJ - Northern Ireland.
Deepening transition: gender roles, women's mobilisation and TJ; TJ and social justice.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• To understand the issue of transitional justice as a worldwide phenomenon.
• To understand the nature and the limits of the traditional criminal justice response to wrongdoing.
• To understand alternatives to criminal justice involved in ‘restorative’ and other transformational forms of justice.
• To consider the ethical complex of issues that underlies criminal justice, such as blame, responsibility, guilt, mourning, and forgiveness.
• To consider the social and political contexts that underlie and affect transitional justice outcomes.

Indicative reading list

Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem (2006)
Benjamin, Beyond Doer and Done To (2017)
Bornkamm, Rwanda's Gacaca Courts: Between Retribution and Reparation (2012)
Boraine, Dealing with the Past: Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa (1997)
Catacuzino, The Forgiveness Project (2015)
Clark, The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda (2011)
Cohen, States of Denial (2001)
Hearty, Critical Engagement: Irish Republicanism, Memory Politics and Policing (2017)
Kurze and Lamont, New Critical Spaces in Transitional Justice: Gender, Art, and Memory (2019)
Lawther, Truth, Denial and Transition: Northern Ireland and the Contested Past (2014)
Lawther and Moffett, Research Handbook on Transitional Justice (2017)
McEvoy and McGregor, Transitional Justice from Below: Grassroots Activism and the Struggle for Change (2008)
McEvoy and Mallinder, Transitional Justice (2017) vols 1-4
Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness (1998)
O'Rourke, Gender Politics in Transitional Justice (2015)
Teitel, Transitional Justice (2000)
Wilson, The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa (2001)
There is a series of case studies in the Routledge Glasshouse Transitional Justice Series

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

No subject specific skills defined for this module.

Transferable skills

No transferable skills defined for this module.