Transitional Justice

Bronwyn Leebaw

Transitional justice refers to institutions or practices that define and address injustices committed under a prior regime as part of a process of political change. Contemporary debates on transitional justice took shape during democratizing transitions of the 1980s and 1990s as successor regimes in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa considered the problem of how to address political violence and repression committed under prior regimes. More recently, transitional justice debates have expanded to encompass the role of responses to past abuses beyond the context of regime change in processes of conflict resolution and more general political reforms. These debates center on the meaning and role of justice in the aftermath of widespread forms of political violence with a focus on specific strategies or practices, such as prosecution, truth commissions, reparations, administrative purges, amnesties, apologies, and forgiveness. It might be argued that all justice is transitional justice, given that the political ...

Users without subscription are not able to see the full content on this title. Please, subscribe or login to access all content on this website.