Global Cooperation in Transitional Justice: Challenges, Possibilities, and Limits

Ruti Teitel initially defined ‘transitional justice’ as ‘the conception of justice associated with periods of political change, characterized by legal responses to confront the wrongdoings of repressive predecessor regimes’ [...] While initially covering instruments and mechanisms such as trials, vetting, restitution, or reparation, ‘transitional justice’ now also includes non-judicial instruments such as apologies, truth commissions, healing circles, or forms of remembrance and commemoration. In this volume, we engage with this broad concept of transitional justice by referring to concepts, mechanisms, and instruments employed by societies that emerge from war or repressive rule to deal with the legacies of conflict, human rights violations, or mass atrocities. We understand transitional justice as a resource for ‘making whole what has been smashed’ (John Torpey) by prosecuting and punishing perpetrators, restoring the dignity of victims of atrocities, and ‘repairing’ the injustices and injuries suffered by them. (from the editors foreword)