Mapping the nexus of transitional justice and peacebuilding

Abstract

This paper explores the convergences and divergence between transitional justice and peacebuilding, by considering some of the recent developments in scholarship and practice. We examine the notion of 'peace' in transitional justice and the idea of 'justice' in peacebuilding. We highlight that transitional justice and peacebuilding often engage with similar or related ideas, though the scholarship on in each field has developed, largely, in parallel to each other, and often without any significant engagement between the fields of inquiry. We also note that both fields share other commonalities, insofar as they often neglect questions of capital (political, social, economic) and at times, gender. We suggest that trying to locate the nexus in the first place draws attention to where peace and justice have actually got to be produced in order for there not to be conflict and violence. This in turn demonstrates that locally, 'peace' and 'justice' do not always look like the 'peace' and 'justice' drawn up by international donors and peacebuilders; and, despite the 'turn to the local' in international relations, it is surprising just how many local and everyday dynamics are (dis)missed as sources of peace and justice, or potential avenues of addressing the past. Sharp (2013b) notes, around this time, transitional justice emerged out of the peripheries of international politics and became mainstream. The hope amongst international actors intervening in post-conflict spaces, was that transitional justice would help remove perpetrators from the political life, and that the recognition of victims would lead to less grievance in the future, thus preventing another cycle of conflict. However, as this special issue discusses, the relationship between transitional justice and peacebuilding is not only contentious and non-linear, but often, also neglected by scholars of both fields. Transitional justice and peacebuilding are deeply intertwined, both practically and discursively, but the amount of literature connecting these two scholarships and practices is relatively low. Even though Rama Mani called attention to 'the nexus between rebuilding peace and restoring justice' as early as 2002 (Mani 2002: 4), the overlaps between the two fields have been neglected. Furthermore, as Sharp (2013a:195 notes, 'remarkably' similar critiques have been raised against both transitional justice and peacebuilding, even though these fields have 'historically proceeded on separate tracks'. These observations are some of the starting points of discussions raised by this special issue. This introduction first outlines the key literature in both fields, locating 'peace' in transitional justice and 'transitional justice' in peacebuilding, before discussing the implications and outlining the contributions of the papers in this volume. Where is peace in transitional justice? 'Peacebuilding' and 'transitional justice', like any other analytical concepts, exist because institutions and scholars have constructed them as objects that can be known about. T...

Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding

“…In setting out a framework for linking transitional justice and peacebuilding, Sharp (2013, p. 169) warned of the dangers of overlooking the critiques that have been leveled against each and the risk of transitional justice coming "to be seen as yet one more box to tick on the 'post-conflict checklist,' a routine part of the template deployed in the context of post-conflict peace operations." Recent efforts to examine the nexus between transitional justice and peacebuilding have drawn on critical studies to identify the commonalities between the two traditions, with the overall aim of improving policy and practice (Sharp 2013) and enhancing understanding of both fields (Baker and Obradovic-Wochnik 2016). In terms of the academic interchange between both traditions, Millar and Lecy's (2016) examination of the academic literature revealed a large gap.…”

“…Second, the practice of peacebuilding and transitional justice has generally given scant attention to socioeconomic issues, such as income inequality, socioeconomic marginalization, and unemployment, that are linked to the effects of conflict (Baker and Obradovic-Wochnik 2016;Richmond 2014). While material depravation, inequality, and competition over resources are all recognized as playing a role in conflict formation, the focus in peacebuilding on free markets and "economic growth" may mean past grievances over resource distribution are left unaddressed (see "▶ Socioeconomic Justice and Peacebuilding" in the chapter by Lai, this volume; Sriram 2014).…”

“…Transitional justice has become included in mandates of a number of UN peacekeeping operations and it is often described as a component of peacebuilding. At the same time, these traditions have "not always been seen as part of the same enterprise and linkages between them have not generally received a great deal of attention by scholars" (Sharp 2013, p. 167;Baker and Obradovic-Wochnik 2016). This entry discusses the underexamined relationship between the two traditions and work that has sought to close this gap.…”

The dataset of Political Agreements in Internal Conflicts (PAIC)

“…Conflict termination typically relies on power sharing, international assistance and territorial self-governance to get antagonistic forces to the negotiating table and finalize a political agreement ending direct violence (Hartzel and Hoddie, 2003, 2007Mattes and Savun, 2009;McGarry and O'Leary, 2008a. Conflict transformation also requires transitional justice processes and cultural reforms (Baker and Obradovic-Wochnik, 2016;Bell, 2009;Kirshner, 2018;Loyle and Apple, 2017). It is our contention that both approaches are essential to the management of violent intra-state conflicts and so variables speaking to both approaches should be included in datasets.…”

Socioeconomic Justice and Peacebuilding

“…Transitional justice is commonly defined as doing justice "in times of transition" (Teitel 2000) from war or authoritarian rule, and transitional justice programs can include judicial mechanisms (international, hybrid, and domestic courts), truth and reconciliation commissions, reparation programs, lustration and vetting, and other locally-specific mechanisms. Recent debates in the field have interrogated the connections between transitional justice and peacebuilding: whether one is conducive to or subsumed within the other or what kind of "nexus" (Baker and Obradovic-Wochnik 2016) exists between the two (see Chapter ▶ "Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding").…”