Truth Commissions And Transitional Societies

Author : Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2010-01-05
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781135189716

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Truth Commissions and Transitional Societies by Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm Pdf

Despite the increasing frequency of truth commissions, there has been little agreement as to their long-term impact on a state's political and social development. This book uses a multi-method approach to examine the impact of truth commissions on subsequent human rights protection and democratic practice. Providing the first cross-national analysis of the impact of truth commissions and presenting detailed analytical case studies on South Africa, El Salvador, Chile, and Uganda, author Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm examines how truth commission investigations and their final reports have shaped the respective societies. The author demonstrates that in the longer term, truth commissions have often had appreciable effects on human rights, but more limited impact in terms of democratic development. The book concludes by considering how future research can build upon these findings to provide policymakers with strong recommendations on whether and how a truth commission is likely to help fragile post-conflict societies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Transition Justice, Human Rights, Peace and Conflict Studies, Democratization Studies, International Law and International Relations.

Author : Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2010-01-05
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781135189723

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Truth Commissions and Transitional Societies by Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm Pdf

Despite the increasing frequency of truth commissions, there has been little agreement as to their long-term impact on a state's political and social development. This book uses a multi-method approach to examine the impact of truth commissions on subsequent human rights protection and democratic practice. Providing the first cross-national analysis of the impact of truth commissions and presenting detailed analytical case studies on South Africa, El Salvador, Chile, and Uganda, author Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm examines how truth commission investigations and their final reports have shaped the respective societies. The author demonstrates that in the longer term, truth commissions have often had appreciable effects on human rights, but more limited impact in terms of democratic development. The book concludes by considering how future research can build upon these findings to provide policymakers with strong recommendations on whether and how a truth commission is likely to help fragile post-conflict societies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Transition Justice, Human Rights, Peace and Conflict Studies, Democratization Studies, International Law and International Relations.

Author : Jeremy Sarkin
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Human rights
ISBN : 178068794X

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The Global Impact and Legacy of Truth Commissions by Jeremy Sarkin Pdf

"The Global Impact and Legacy of Truth Commissions' emerges at a time when there is a confluence of two trends. The first is a growing critique of truth commissions as being unresponsive to the socio-economic needs of transitional societies as part of growing criticism of transitional justice as a whole. The second is the increasing use, salience, professionalism and ambition of truth commissions. Thus, the book is published at a time when truth commissions are being both doubted and reified like never before. In this context, the book's purpose is to understand the impact and legacy of these institutions over the past fifty years. Bringing together many prominent voices on the topic, this book investigates what kind of impact and legacy (possibly 100) truth commissions have had on the societies in which they have taken place, and for future truth commissions the world over"--

Author : Robert I. Rotberg,Dennis F. Thompson
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2010-07-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781400832033

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Truth v. Justice by Robert I. Rotberg,Dennis F. Thompson Pdf

The truth commission is an increasingly common fixture of newly democratic states with repressive or strife-ridden pasts. From South Africa to Haiti, truth commissions are at work with varying degrees of support and success. To many, they are the best--or only--way to achieve a full accounting of crimes committed against fellow citizens and to prevent future conflict. Others question whether a restorative justice that sets the guilty free, that cleanses society by words alone, can deter future abuses and allow victims and their families to heal. Here, leading philosophers, lawyers, social scientists, and activists representing several perspectives look at the process of truth commissioning in general and in post-apartheid South Africa. They ask whether the truth commission, as a method of seeking justice after conflict, is fair, moral, and effective in bringing about reconciliation. The authors weigh the virtues and failings of truth commissions, especially the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in their attempt to provide restorative rather than retributive justice. They examine, among other issues, the use of reparations as social policy and the granting of amnesty in exchange for testimony. Most of the contributors praise South Africa's decision to trade due process for the kinds of truth that permit closure. But they are skeptical that such revelations produce reconciliation, particularly in societies that remain divided after a compromise peace with no single victor, as in El Salvador. Ultimately, though, they find the truth commission to be a worthy if imperfect instrument for societies seeking to say "never again" with confidence. At a time when truth commissions have been proposed for Bosnia, Kosovo, Cyprus, East Timor, Cambodia, Nigeria, Palestine, and elsewhere, the authors' conclusion that restorative justice provides positive gains could not be more important. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Amy Gutmann, Rajeev Bhargava, Elizabeth Kiss, David A. Crocker, André du Toit, Alex Boraine, Dumisa Ntsebeza, Lisa Kois, Ronald C. Slye, Kent Greenawalt, Sanford Levinson, Martha Minow, Charles S. Maier, Charles Villa-Vicencio, and Wilhelm Verwoerd.

Author : Priscilla B. Hayner
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 377 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2010-09-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9781135245580

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Unspeakable Truths 2e by Priscilla B. Hayner Pdf

In a sweeping review of forty truth commissions, Priscilla Hayner delivers a definitive exploration of the global experience in official truth-seeking after widespread atrocities. When Unspeakable Truths was first published in 2001, it quickly became a classic, helping to define the field of truth commissions and the broader arena of transitional justice. This second edition is fully updated and expanded, covering twenty new commissions formed in the last ten years, analyzing new trends, and offering detailed charts that assess the impact of truth commissions and provide comparative information not previously available. Placing the increasing number of truth commissions within the broader expansion in transitional justice, Unspeakable Truths surveys key developments and new thinking in reparations, international justice, healing from trauma, and other areas. The book challenges many widely-held assumptions, based on hundreds of interviews and a sweeping review of the literature. This book will help to define how these issues are addressed in the future.

Author : Anita Ferrara
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2014-09-19
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781317804666

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Assessing the Long-Term Impact of Truth Commissions by Anita Ferrara Pdf

In 1990, after the end of the Pinochet regime, the newly-elected democratic government of Chile established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to investigate and report on some of the worst human rights violations committed under the seventeen-year military dictatorship. The Chilean TRC was one of the first truth commissions established in the world. This book examines whether and how the work of the Chilean TRC contributed to the transition to democracy in Chile and to subsequent developments in accountability and transformation in that country. The book takes a long term view on the Chilean TRC asking to what extent and how the truth commission contributed to the development of the transitional justice measures that ensued, and how the relationship with those subsequent developments was established over time.It argues that, contrary to the views and expectations of those who considered that the Chilean TRC was of limited success, that the Chilean TRC has, in fact, over the longer term, played a key role as an enabler of justice and a means by which ethical and institutional transformation has occurred within Chile. With the benefit of this historical perspective, the book concludes that the impact of truth commissions in general needs to be carefully reviewed in light of the Chilean experience. This book will be of great interest and use to students and scholars of conflict resolution, criminal international law, and comparative legal systems in Latin America.

Author : Angela D. Nichols
Publisher : Springer
Page : 106 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2019-02-06
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9783030111724

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Impact, Legitimacy, and Limitations of Truth Commissions by Angela D. Nichols Pdf

This book develops a theoretical understanding of how truth commissions achieve legitimacy and contribute to peace and stability. Angela D. Nichols argues that truth commissions are most likely to impact society when they possess certain institutional characteristics—characteristics that send important political signals to the state and broader society alike. If these signals suggest greater degrees of authority, a break with the past, and transparency in both its investigations and its findings, the truth commission is more likely to impact society. In particular, Nichols examines whether or not states that adopt truth commissions with these characteristics are more likely to respect human rights and experience lower levels of violence. She concludes with an analysis of Colombia’s newly established Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Recurrence Commission.

Author : Dorothy C. Shea
Publisher : US Institute of Peace Press
Page : 126 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : South Africa
ISBN : 9781929223091

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The South African Truth Commission by Dorothy C. Shea Pdf

In the latter half of the 1990s, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) offered the country the chance to build a better future by facing up to its past. Amid saturation media coverage, victims of human rights abuses told their harrowing stories and perpetrators confessed to horrendous acts. Meanwhile, the commissioners grappled with decisions that would not only apportion responsibility and grant or deny amnesty but also have a profound political and social impact. To this highly charged, controversial subject, Dorothy Shea brings a rare combination of objectivity, thoroughness, and a firm grasp of both the principles and the political interests at stake. She begins by investigating the origins of the TRC in South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy, and she examines the extent to which it learned from the experiences of earlier, Latin American commissions. Then she focuses on how the politics of the TRC were played out in issues such as amnesty, reparations, and prosecutions. Her report on the TRC offers a generally positive assessment and explains not only how South Africa measured up but also why. Finally, Shea draws lessons from the TRC experience that may help to inform future efforts to shape and establish truth commissions in other transitional societies.

Author : Judy Barsalou
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 12 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2008-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781437904215

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Trauma and Transitional Justice in Divided Societies by Judy Barsalou Pdf

Author : Priscilla B. Hayner
Publisher : Psychology Press
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0415924782

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Unspeakable Truths by Priscilla B. Hayner Pdf

In a sweeping review of forty truth commissions, Priscilla Hayner delivers a definitive exploration of the global experience in official truth-seeking after widespread atrocities. When Unspeakable Truths was first published in 2001, it quickly became a classic, helping to define the field of truth commissions and the broader arena of transitional justice. This second edition is fully updated and expanded, covering twenty new commissions formed in the last ten years, analyzing new trends, and offering detailed charts that assess the impact of truth commissions and provide comparative information not previously available. Placing the increasing number of truth commissions within the broader expansion in transitional justice, Unspeakable Truths surveys key developments and new thinking in reparations, international justice, healing from trauma, and other areas. The book challenges many widely-held assumptions, based on hundreds of interviews and a sweeping review of the literature. This book will help to define how these issues are addressed in the future.

Author : Brandon Hamber
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 255 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2009-06-12
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780387894270

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Transforming Societies after Political Violence by Brandon Hamber Pdf

Paraphrasing Descartes, we may say that one method is to take the reader into your conf idence by explaining to him how you arrived at your discovery; the other is to bully him into accepting a conclusion by parading a series of propositions which he must accept and which lead to it. The first method allows the reader to re-think your own thoughts in their natural order. It is an autobiographical style. Writing in this style, you include, not what you had for breakfast on the day of your discovery, but any significant consideration which helped you arrive at your idea. In particular, you say what your aim was – what problems you were trying to solve and what you hoped from a solution of them. The other style suppresses all this. It is didactic and intimidating. J. W. N. Watkins, Confession is Good for Ideas (Watkins, 1963, pp. 667–668) I began writing this book over 12 years ago. It was started in the midst of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It is an exploration of what I have learned from the process. During the TRC, I was working at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) in South Africa, primarily with people who testified before the Commission, but also on a range of research and policy initiatives in the area that is now called ‘transitional justice’. I have written about the TRC process extensively.

Author : Claire Cronin,Lia Kent,JoAnne Wallis
Publisher : ANU Press
Page : 259 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2019-01-01
Category : Civil society
ISBN : 9781760463298

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Civil Society and Transitional Justice in Asia and the Pacific by Claire Cronin,Lia Kent,JoAnne Wallis Pdf

Over the last two decades, civil society has helped catalyse responses to the legacies of violent conflicts and oppressive political regimes in Asia and the Pacific. Civil society has advocated for the establishment of criminal trials and truth commissions, monitored their operations and pushed for take-up of their recommendations. It has also initiated community-based transitional justice responses. Yet, there has been little in-depth examination of the breadth and diversity of these roles. This book addresses this gap by analysing the heterogeneity of civil society transitional justice activity in Asia and the Pacific. Based upon empirically grounded case studies of Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bougainville, Solomon Islands and Fiji, this book illustrates that civil society actors can have different - and sometimes competing - priorities, resources and approaches to transitional justice. Their work is also underpinned by diverse understandings of 'justice'. By reflecting on the richness of this activity, this book advances contemporary debates about transitional justice and civil society. It will also be a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners working on Asia and the Pacific.

Author : Onur Bakiner
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2016-01-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780812247626

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Truth Commissions by Onur Bakiner Pdf

Onur Bakiner evaluates the success of truth commissions in promoting political, judicial, and social change. He argues that even when commissions produce modest change as a result of political constraints, they open new avenues for human rights activism and transform public discourses on memory, truth, justice, and reconciliation.

Author : Joanna R. Quinn
Publisher : UBC Press
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2011-01-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780774859592

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The Politics of Acknowledgement by Joanna R. Quinn Pdf

Human rights violations leave deep scars on people, societies, and nations. Rights groups argue that resolving past violence is necessary for a peaceful future. But how can nations ensure that instruments of transitional justice are the best path to reconciliation? This book develops a theoretical framework a framework of acknowledgement to evaluate truth commissions. Analysis of the difficulties encountered and the ultimate failure of truth commissions in Uganda and Haiti reveals that acknowledgement of past violence by both victims and perpetrators must come before goals such as forgiveness and social cohesion if reconciliation is to be achieved.

Author : Paul Gready
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 279 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2010-10-18
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781136902208

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The Era of Transitional Justice by Paul Gready Pdf

First Published in 2011. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.