Academic literature on the topic 'Transitional justice – Zimbabwe – Case studies'

Abstract This article offers a critical perspective on emerging and alternative spaces for emancipation within transitional justice studies. Taking into account recent critical literature and postcolonial interventions in transitional justice studies, we argue that barriers to moving our understanding of transitional justice forward are both conceptual and methodological. Conceptual hurdles are visible through narrow justice demands often limited to the context of post-conflict and post-authoritarian settings, thus normalizing injustice in liberal democratic and postcolonial contexts. Methodological impediments exist because transitional justice scholarship operates at a positivist level, or trying to explain certain, and desired, outcomes rather than destabilizing and unsettling unequal power relations. As a result, research practice in the field reflects the perspectives and preferences of elites in transition societies through a legal-technical mechanistic imagining of transitional justice that we refer to as the transitional justice machine. We argue that the needs and voices of marginalized social actors, particularly within states that are largely defined as liberal democratic or postcolonial, have long been ignored due to these practices. Against the backdrop of evolving agency patterns, including widespread global protest and demands to deal with the past across countries, we zoom in on a variety of actors who, until now, have not been at the focus of transitional justice studies. Drawing on a variety of case studies, this article contributes to the critical understanding of transitional justice studies as a Bourdieusian field. First, by expanding the conceptual lens to include racial, socio-economic, and postcolonial injustice, and, second, by advancing a more critical methodological approach that puts at its center unequal power relationships.

This research aimed to find out the actual situation on the ground regarding what mainline Christianity is actually doing in confronting or conforming to biblical and cultural norms regarding the role and position of women in their denominations. It is based on six mainline churches. This field research reveals that it may not be enough to concentrate on gender in missionary religions such as Christianity, without paying attention to the base culture: African traditional religio-culture which informs most people who are now Christians. It also illuminates how the churches are actually acting to break free of the oppressive biblical traditions and bringing about changes regarding the status of women in their churches. In some cases women are now being given more active roles in the churches, but on the other hand are still bound at home by an oppressive traditional Shona patriarchal culture and customs. Through a hybrid qualitative research design combining phenomenology and case study, what we are referring to as phenomenological case study, we argue that Christianity is a stimulus to change, an impetus to revolution, and a grounding for dignity and justice that supports and fosters gender equity efforts.

Recent years have seen a proliferation of forms of transitional justice, ranging from pure truth and reconciliation formulas to various integrated approaches, combining international or internationalized trials with alternative forms of justice. Many of these phenomena have been examined in individual case studies. However, few attempts have been made to put the various pieces of the puzzle together and to analyze the merits and pitfalls of different institutional choices of transitional justice. This essay seeks to fill this shortcoming. It looks at different institutional designs of transitional justice from a comparative and impact-based perspective. It tries to identify some of the contextual parameters which may contribute to the success or failure of specific formulas of institutional design. Moreover, this contribution seeks to establish that international and domestic models of justice are not contradictory, but interdependent forces in the process of sustainable peacemaking, in areas such as criminal trials, victim's protection and reparation. It argues that transitional justice requires pluralist and complementary approaches, combining parallel mechanisms at the domestic and the international level, in order to succeed in practice, especially after the coming into operation of the International Criminal Court.

This article argues that what is seen as a justice cascade may in fact amount to merely an advocacy cascade, which has facilitated justice policies that democratising states would inevitably have pursued (and helped neutralise opposition), but which in causal terms has been far less influential on justice policy than is commonly assumed. Because transitional justice is generally presented in very idealistic terms, scholars in the field have begun to acknowledge that its virtuous effects are more easily presumed than proven (Van der Merwe, 2009, p. 121). Amongst advocates and activists in particular, one sees in the literature an emotional commitment to transitional justice that generally foregoes doubts about its overall efficacy even where isolated shortcomings are accepted. Policy has hitherto proceeded less from analysis to conclusions than from commitments to action. Some argue that ‘the commitment to advocacy has come at the expense of progress in empirical research’ (Vinjamuri and Snyder, 2004, p. 345) – the benefits of certain mechanisms are assumed instead of treated as empirical propositions to be proven rigorously. Because so many of the early debates about transitional justice took the form of partisan advocacy in the dichotomised days of the ‘justice versus peace’ and ‘truth versus justice’, prospective hypotheses about likely outcomes dominated the literature at the expense of retrospective assessments of what generally had or had not worked. For at least a decade, scholars have noted the paucity of studies systematically examining the correlation between transitional justice and social reconstruction. Subsequently, the literature has variously been criticised for its dependency on anecdote and hypothesis (Crocker, 2002, p. 541), analogy (Brahm, 2008, p. 3) and wishful thinking (Olsen, Payne and Reiter, 2010, pp. 25–26). Until recently, scholarship had primarily been based on single or dual mechanism case-studies and comparative qualitative case-studies of a limited number of states, which gave disproportionate emphasis to certain transitions or transition types conducive to study. This in turn made generally applicable policy conclusions difficult to elaborate. It has been argued that human rights research in general, and transitional justice research in particular, are enterprises directed at manufacturing legitimacy for their fields of practice (Gready, 2009, p. 159). Such endeavours must, however, retain at least a threshold plausibility. As a fear developed among practitioners and theorists about the damage to the credibility of transitional justice from wild, unsubstantiated claims, there has emerged in recent years a commendable attempt to clarify the causal relationships (if any) between individual mechanisms and general ends. By employing social science methodologies and hard data, a tentative literature has emerged on how to assess the impact of transitional justice (Thoms, Ron and Paris, 2010). The expectation is that this scholarship can chip away at falsity and overly ambitious claims. This article examines the extent to which two recent works do this. After surveying what is novel about their distinctive methodologies, Part II examines the primary difference between the works, namely the extent to which the work of transnational human rights activists has impacted on the decision of democratising states to pursue criminal accountability for crimes of the past. Part III explores alternative explanations for why states are seemingly more willing to undertake trials and the extent to which the works in question control for these variables. Part IV considers the extent to which the normative change both books note has impacted on the security dilemmas inherent in transitional accountability. The article concludes that transitional justice research has some distance yet to travel in disentangling correlation from cause.

The growing interest in ‘During Conflict Justice’ (DCJ) in areas experiencing ongoing, sustained violent ‘conflict’ has further demonstrated the confluence between transitional justice and liberal peacebuilding approaches. Nowhere so is this more evident than in the case of Palestine-Israel where an ongoing process of Israeli settler-colonialism in historic Palestine continues, with the further spotlighting of ‘justice’ issues that are longstanding and unresolved. This article critiques the application of TJ/DCJ in Palestine-Israel and calls for a radicalisation of its application so as to ensure a platforming of conversation around decolonisation. It does so by critiquing the impact of discourse, specifically the framing of the ‘conflict’ and focuses on the nefarious role of a liberal peace building agenda in Palestine-Israel, a process that has embedded a deeply unjust and inequitable status quo. An insight into several ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ strategies of TJ/DCJ in Palestine-Israel is provided, with the conclusion reached that; any TJ/DCJ praxis that does not platform meaningful conversation around decolonisation in the region will ultimately amount to the individualisation of ‘justice’ whilst failing to address root causes.

How can outgoing autocrats enforce promises of amnesty once they have left power? Why would incoming opposition parties honor their prior promises of amnesty once they have assumed power and face no independent mechanisms of enforcement? In 1989 autocrats in a number of communist countries offered their respective oppositions free elections in exchange for promises of amnesty. The communists' decision appears irrational given the lack of institutions to enforce these promises of amnesty. What is further puzzling is that the former opposition parties that won elections in many countries actually refrained from implementing transitional justice measures. Their decision to honor their prior agreements to grant amnesty seems as irrational as the autocrats' decisions to place themselves at the mercy of their opponents. Using an analytic narrative approach, the author explains this paradox by modeling pacted transitions not as simple commitment problems but as games of incomplete information where the uninformed party has “skeletons in its closet”—that is, embarrassing information that provides insurance against the commitments being broken. The author identifies the conditions under which autocrats step down even though they can be punished with transitional justice and illustrates the results with case studies from Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary.

In memory studies and in the field of transitional justice, the story of the victims is usually seen as relevant. It is usually assumed that what is said by the victims has an absolute value of truth and cannot be controverted, otherwise we would be attacking their dignity. And, next to this, it is maintained that everything held by the perpetrators is false, and therefore we cannot believe absolutely in what they tell. But we have to take into account that neither perpetrator nor victims are witnesses, but, from a legal point of view, they are active parties in that social relationship we call crime. In this text, I want to discuss the relationship between the witness and the archive and for that I use the Colombian case as a case study. Initially I analyze the question of memory and later I analyze the relationships between truth and memory. With this text, I intend to contribute to the studies of transitional justice that take for granted, without further analysis, the validity of the documentary contributions or the stories of the victims and the witnesses. It is not a mere theoretical pretension, since it depends on the elaboration of truth criteria for both the criminal justice system and the Truth Commissions.

After more than two decades of war and foreign interventions, including the recent US-led military campaign following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, Afghanistan has now entered a period of transition and rebuilding. It joins a host of other countries — from South Africa to Sierra Leone to East Timor — seeking to move from a repressive and violent past to a future based on democracy, the rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights and international humanitarian law. Afghanistan presents one of the most confronting case studies of ‘transitional justice’, what Teitel has described as the issue of how societies deal with their ‘evil pasts’.

Transitional justice and reconciliation are nebulous concepts and pose a lot of challenges for conflict stricken communities in Africa. Firstly, justice is inherently a political concept whose conceptualisation and application is highly contested. Secondly, the application of legal recourse through transitional justice processes has developed contending approaches and policies, which range from Western-centred legal frameworks (focusing on the state) to broader African justice processes that seek to rebuild relationships between community members. Thirdly, the institutionalisation of transitional justice has facilitated the diversification of its goals and processes for implementation. Critical scholars propose that where official processes of transitional justice and reconciliation at the national or international level are out of reach for the local communities, it is important to promote the local, unofficial processes that exist. In this research, this aspect was explored in relation to the case of Zimbabwe where the Western-inspired government-led initiatives for transitional justice and reconciliation have inhibited the local population from acquiring justice. Making use of a qualitative ethnographic case study research method in Buhera and Mudzi districts, the research examined how the local communities resolve the conflicts that occur in their place of location, as well as how the context in which these experiences happen influence their understanding of justice. The research established that various people hold varying meanings of what would count for justice to be served. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach to transitional justice and reconciliation is not adequate. An enabling environment that accommodates various views of justice is required for transitional justice to work.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Political Sciences
PhD
Unrestricted

The US has been involved in the majority of transitional justice measures established since the 1990s. This study explores this phenomenon by examining the forces that shape US foreign policy on transitional justice. It first investigates US influence on the evolution of the field, and then traces US involvement in three illustrative cases in order to establish what US involvement entails, why the US gets involved and how the US has impacted individual measures and the field as a whole. The cases include: the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia; the trial of Liberian President Charles Taylor and the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and the Justice and Peace Process in Colombia. These cases represent different transitional justice measures, transition types and geographic regions – all key dimensions in the field. These measures were also all established in the 2000s, a period which reflects a different historical moment in the field’s evolution. The cases shed light on the actors who play a key role in the field – from presidential administrations to Congress to the State Department and others. The study is based on nearly 200 interviews and archival research undertaken in the US, The Hague, Cambodia, Liberia and Colombia, providing a strong basis on which to draw conclusions about US foreign policy on transitional justice.

Magister Theologiae - MTh
This study investigates three case studies, namely, the “Pepco Three”, the “St James Church incident”, and the “Gugulethu Seven incident” from the perspective of ongoing reflections on the nature of reconciliation in the sub-discipline of Systematic Theology. The research problem that is investigated in this project is: What role did visible signs of remorse (or its absence) play in the willingness or unwillingness of victims (or their close relatives) to offer forgiveness to the perpetrators of gross violations of human rights related to the three cases studies mentioned from the amnesty hearings of the South African Truth and Reconciliation commission, namely the “Pepco Three” the “St James Church massacre incident”, the “Gugulethu Seven”. In each case study, the crucial question that will be asked is whether the victims or their relatives understand forgiveness as something that is conditional and part of a longer process of reconciliation, or whether they understand forgiveness as something that can be offered unconditionally. The research draws on some standard theological literature with specific reference to literature on the concepts of reconciliation, forgiveness and remorse emerging in the aftermath of the South African TRC. This is followed by a description and critical analysis of the three identified case studies. In each case, I listened to the recordings, read the transcriptions, and considered the available secondary material on the case studies.

The focus of this study was to explore and expand capabilities, sustainability and gender justice in Science, Mathematics and Technical subjects (SMTs) in teacher education curriculum practices as a process of Education for Sustainable Development in two case studies in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The study begins by discussing gender and science education discourse, locating it within Education for Sustainable Development discourse. Through this nexus, the study was able to explore gender and sustainability responsiveness of the curriculum practices of teacher educators in Science, Mathematics and Technical subjects; scrutinise underlying mechanisms that affect (promote or constrain) gender and sustainability responsive curriculum practices; and understand if and how teacher education curriculum practices consider the functionings and capabilities of females in relation to increased socio-ecological risk in a Southern African context. Influenced by a curriculum transformation commitment, an expansive learning phase was conducted to promote gender and sustainability responsive pedagogies in teacher education curriculum practices. As shown in the study, the expansive learning processes resulted in (re)conceptualising the curriculum practices (object), analysis of contradictions and developing new ways of doing work. Drawing from the sensitising concepts of dialectics, reflexivity and agency, the study worked with the three theoretical approaches of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), feminist theory and capabilities theory. The capability and feminist lenses were used in the exploration of gender and sustainability responsiveness in science teacher education curriculum practices. CHAT, through its associated methodology of Developmental Work Research, offered the opportunity for researcher and participants in this study to come together to question and analyse curriculum practices and model new ways of doing work. Case study research was used in two case studies of teacher education curriculum practices in Science, Mathematics and Technical subjects, one in Zimbabwe and one in South Africa. Each case study is constituted with a networked activity system. The study used in-depth and focus group interviews and document analysis to explore gender and sustainability responsiveness in curriculum practices and to generate mirror data. Inductive and abductive modes of inference, and Critical Discourse Analysis were used to analyse data. This data was then used in Change Laboratory Workshops, where double stimulation and focus group discussions contributed to the expansive learning process. Findings from the exploration phase of the study revealed that most teacher educators in the two case studies had some basic levels of gender sensitivity, meaning that they had ability to perceive existing gender inequalities as it applies only to gender disaggregated data especially when it comes to enrolment and retention. However, there was no institutionalised pedagogic device in place in both case studies aimed at equipping future teachers with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to promote aspects of capabilities (well-being achievement, wellbeing freedom, agency achievement and agency freedom) for girls in Science, Mathematics and Technical subjects. Science, Mathematics and Technical subjects teacher educators' curriculum practices were gender neutral, but in a gendered environment. This was a pedagogical tension that was visible in both case studies. On the other hand, socio-ecological issues, in cases where they were incorporated into the curriculum, were incorporated in a gender blind or gender neutral manner. Social ecological concerns such as climate change were treated as if they were not gendered both in their impact and in their mitigation and adaptation. It emerged that causal mechanisms shaping this situation were of a socio-political nature: there exist cultural differences between students and teacher educators; patriarchal ideology and hegemony; as well as other interfering binaries such as race and class. Other curriculum related constraints, though embedded in the socio-cultural-political nexus, include: rigid and content heavy curriculum, coupled with students who come into the system with inadequate content knowledge; and philosophy informing pedagogy namely scientism, with associated instrumentalist and functionalist tenets. All these led to contradictions between pedagogical practices with those expected by the Education for Sustainable Development framework. The study contributes in-depth insight into science teacher education curriculum development. By locating the study at the nexus of gender and Science, Mathematics and Technical subjects within the Education for Sustainable Development discourse, using the ontological lenses of feminist and capabilities, it was possible to interrogate aspects of quality and relevance of the science teacher education curriculum. The study also provides insight into participatory research and learning processes especially within the context of policy and curriculum development. It provides empirical evidence of mobilising reflexivity amongst both policy makers and policy implementers towards building human agency in policy translation for a curriculum transformation that is critical for responding to contemporary socio-ecological risks.
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This thesis focuses on the importance of truth and memory in the process of transitional justice, within the context of the aftermath of gross violations of human rights that occurred during the military dictatorship of 1976 to 1983 in Argentina. The military junta that ruled Argentina took power under the pretext of national security, arguing that an enemy threatened to destabilize and destroy Argentine society. During the period of the military dictatorship an estimated 30,000 people "disappeared"; relatives of those disappeared mobilized and formed human rights organizations to confront the military regime for its abuses. Once the dictatorship collapsed and democratic rule was reestablished these human rights organizations changed their focus, mobilizing once again to find their missing relatives, learn the truth, and prosecute those responsible of any crimes. A series of amnesty laws and pardons protected the perpetrators of many of the crimes of the military regime through most of the 1990's, until in 2005 the Argentine Supreme Court declared those laws unconstitutional. During the period before the 2005 ruling human rights organizations worked hard to gather the truth about the crimes of the military regime and ensure these crimes were not forgotten. Their initiatives included the famous weekly march to the Plaza de Mayo by members of Madres (Mothers), one of the most important human rights organizations in Argentina; escraches (reveal what is hidden) and public protests by HIJOS (Sons and daughters of the disappeared), actions in which members of HIJOS would go to the houses of known members of the military juntas and protest at their front doors; and programs to find missing grandchildren by Abuelas (Grandmothers), a human rights organization dedicated to searching for the missing children of the disappeared; and others. Because of the structure of terror during the military junta, most Argentines did not know exactly what was happening to the missing persons, and they were afraid to ask. The truth gathering initiatives and the official report of the commission charged with investigating the junta, CONADEP, came into being in response to this lack of knowledge. They helped to inform the Argentine people and the new generations of what had happened during the military dictatorship in hopes of making sure that such abuses do not occur again.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
Bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflict societies using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commission is investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate the relationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesis analyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether there are any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC through its Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely “to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past” (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8, paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of the South African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim of achieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is further analysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitional justice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal with the issue of sustainable peace. This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contribute to a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is argued that this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the Final Report mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding and macro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC’s theoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- and macro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the South African case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truth finding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towards sustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung’s positive peace and Lederach’s structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achieve sustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theoryThis thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflict societies using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commission is investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate the relationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesis analyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether there are any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC through its Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely “to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past” (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8, paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of the South African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim of achieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is further analysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitional justice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal with the issue of sustainable peace. This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contribute to a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is argued that this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the Final Report mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding and macro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC’s theoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- and macro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the South African case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truth finding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towards sustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung’s positive peace and Lederach’s structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achieve sustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theoryThis thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflict societies using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commission is investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate the relationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesis analyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether there are any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC through its Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely “to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past” (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8, paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of the South African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim of achieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is further analysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitional justice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal with the issue of sustainable peace. This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contribute to a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is argued that this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the Final Report mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding and macro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC’s theoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- and macro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the South African case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truth finding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towards sustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung’s positive peace and Lederach’s structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achieve sustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theory contributes to an individualisation of the truth finding process and does not sufficiently support the macro-truths. Finally, by deconstructing the term never again it is shown that this approach should not be used in the TRCs or in the wider field of transitional justice v
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek of volhoubare vrede in postkonfliksamelewings met behulp van die oorgangsgeregtigheidsbenadering bereik kan word. Meer bepaald word die soeklig gewerp op die waarheidskommissie as meganisme van oorgangsgeregtigheid. Die Suid-Afrikaanse Waarheids-en-Versoeningskommissie (WVK) dien as gevallestudie om die verwantskap tussen volhoubare vrede en oorgangsgeregtigheid te bestudeer. Die tesis probeer vasstel of die WVK sy mandaat uitgevoer het, en of die Kommissie se finale verslag enige bepaalde omskrywings, gevolgtrekkings of aanbevelings bevat “om te verseker dat die verlede hom nie herhaal nie” (paragraaf 14, hoofstuk 8, volume 5 van die WVKverslag). Dít vind plaas deur middel van ! tekstuele ontleding van die finale WVKverslag wat die inherente swakpunte van dié dokument in sy strewe na volhoubare vrede krities en dekonstruktief benader. Die verslag word voorts ontleed deur die kwessie van volhoubare vrede te verbind met die gebied van oorgangsgeregtigheid sowel as ontwikkelingstudies oor hoe toekomstige WVK’s die kwessie van volhoubare vrede kan hanteer. Die tesis kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die Suid-Afrikaanse WVK nie ! bydrae gelewer het tot ! sinvolle ontleding van presies hoe om ! herhaling van die verlede te voorkom nie. Daar word aangevoer dat dít te wyte is aan die gebrek aan ! samehangende teoretiese raamwerk, aangesien die finale verslag twee verskillende waarheidsoekende meganismes vermeng – die mikrowaarheidsoeke en die makrowaarheidsoeke – en ook van die geregverdigde-oorlog-teorie gebruik maak. Deur die tekstuele ontleding van die teoretiese raamwerk van die WVKverslag word dit duidelik dat ! mikro- en makrowaarheidsoeke moeilik in een verslag te kombineer is, en dat, in die Suid-Afrikaanse geval, die mikrowaarheidsoeke voorkeur geniet. Tog sou die makrowaarheidsoeke ! grondiger ontleding bied vir die suksesvolle verwesenliking van volhoubare vrede, wat in hierdie tesis as Galtung se ‘positiewe vrede’ en Lederach se ‘strukturele vrede’ 5 verstaan word. Trouens, die makrowaarheidsoeke is ! voorvereiste om volhoubare vrede te bereik. ! Tradisionele lesing van die geregverdigde-oorlogteorie dra ook by tot ! individualisering van die waarheidsoekende proses, en bied nie voldoende ondersteuning vir die makrowaarhede nie. Laastens word daar deur die dekonstruksie van die uitdrukking nooit weer nie getoon dat hierdie benadering nie in WVK’s of op die groter gebied van oorgangsgeregtigheid tuishoort nie.

D. Litt. et Phil. (African Politics)
This study is an exploration of transitional justice mechanisms available to post conflict communities. It is a context sensitive and sustained interrogation of the effectiveness of endogenous transitional justice mechanisms in post-colonial Zimbabwe. The study utilised Ruti Teitel’s (1997: 2009-2080) realist/idealist theory as its theoretical framework. Using the case of Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular, it analyses the application of imported idealist transitional justice mechanisms, mainly International Criminal Court (ICC) trials. It also debates the efficacy of realist transitional justice mechanisms, mainly the South African model of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).The study explores the application of what it terms broad realist transitional justice mechanisms used mostly in rural areas of Zimbabwe to achieve peace building and reconciliation. These modes of everyday healing and reconciliation include the traditional institutions of ngozi (avenging spirit), botso (self-shaming), chenura (cleansing ceremonies), nhimbe (community working groups) and nyaradzo (memorials). The key finding of this exploration is that local realist transitional justice mechanisms are more efficacious in fostering peace building and reconciliation than imported idealist mechanisms such as the ICC trials and imported realist mechanisms such as the TRC. More value can be realised when imported realist mechanisms and local realist transitional justice mechanisms complement each other. The study contributes to the literature on transitional justice in general and bottom-up, victim-centred reconciliation in particular. It offers a different approach to the study of transitional justice in post conflict Zimbabwe by recasting the debate away from the liberal peace paradigm which critiques state centric top-down approaches such as trials, clemencies, amnesties and institutional reform. The study considers the agency of ‘ordinary’ people in resolving the after effects of politically motivated harm. It also lays the foundation for further research into other traditional transitional justice mechanisms used for peace building and reconciliation elsewhere in Africa
Political Sciences

碩士
淡江大學
拉丁美洲研究所碩士班
97
After the third wave of democratization, many countries in democratic transition or consolidation carry out “transitional justice” by establishing “Truth Commission.” However, they also face political and moral problems. By investigating three case studies on Chile, Peru, and Argentina, this thesis focuses on the execution of transitional justice and the solution of authoritarian legacies. First of all, the study emphasizes on the succeeding democratic governments’ investigation and trial of governors’ violation of human rights and abuse of power during dictatorship. The contents include literature review on transitional justice, the comparison of truth commissions, and the proceedings of authoritarian legacies. Moreover, the impacts of domestic political development in Chile, Argentina, Peru, and the changing international circumstances at the time on the beginning, change and termination of authoritarianism, and the emergence of democratic transition are all discussed. This research compares the similarities and the difference among Chilean, Argentine and Peruvian cases and pursues the different fates of those dominators. The three cases not only have great influence on Latin America’s democracy, also contribute to Taiwan’s pursuit of transitional justice. It is expected that this study on Latin America will lead the future researchers to more academic, objective and complete studies on transitional justice.

碩士
淡江大學
歐洲研究所碩士班
100
The Third wave of democratization started since the “Carnation Revolution” of Portugal in 1974 and swiftly impacted the world. During the 15 years after Carnation Revolution, there have been more than 30 countries undergone a democratization transition, and at least 10 countries more were impacted. In late 1980s, the collapsed of USSR and SFRY pushed the Third wave reached its climax, and Communism was dead in Europe. In Taiwan, the goverment abolished the martial law which had been promulgated for 38 years in 1987, and significantly loosen the restrictions on people’s political rights, got political reform step by step under democracy’s third wave. Many countries have embraced the democracy during the Third wave of democratization, which was the largest scale ever. With the democratization completed, came along the “transitional justice” issue that the newly democratization countries must confront with. Transitional justice is not only the question of democratization, but also is the foundation of democracy consolidation. This thesis uses Spain, Czech, Slovenia and Taiwan as case studies; they are selected because these 3 European countries represent 3 different areas, dictatorships and democracy transition in Europe, but they still share a common trait as members of EU now. It shows that their democratization is recognized by EU. Hence, with this thesis, I would like to discuss the effect of the transitional justice and its background by the above mentioned countries as case studies. And finally with Taiwan’s experience of transitional justice to compare with the 3 European countries mentioned in the thesis, and conclude if there is any valuable lesson worth refers to. According to the analysis, transitional justice is a universal value. The 4 countries have doing transi-tional justice much or few to now, but different country has different developing model. So the result of the thesis shows a wide range of diversity, since every country will show a diverse appearance by differ-ent political development. It is to deal with victims but don’t care about perpetrators in Taiwan, so it is also Taiwan’s unfinished work after democratization.

AbstractThe purpose of this chapter is to explore how the humane Norwegian policy principles and values may impact the prison-based practices and the implications of these for the collaborative work undertaken by front-line personnel. Humane traditions are considered a substantial focus of the Norwegian prison system and its policies. The approach in Norway is supported by increasing empirical evidence that shows the system to centralise the welfare of inmates. It emphasises offender rehabilitation and reintegration rather than merely punishment as a fundamental means to reduce reoffending. However, the collaborative practice that may arise as a consequence of these traditional values is underexplored. Two case studies were undertaken with front-line staff working in a Norwegian prison transitional residence (Overgangsbolig). This is the final phase of an inmate’s sentence while being reintegrated back into society. The study found that staff in their collaborative working practices adhered either to the aim of normalising the lives of their inmates after long periods of incarceration (normalisation ideals) or reparative ideals that reflected the system’s humane focus on rehabilitation and reintegration takes precedence over punishment. We conclude that irrespective of differing professional disciplines, there seems to be compatibility between the overarching principles and values of penal policy and front-line ideals to promote collaborative practices at the reintegrative phase of the Norwegian prison system. The shared application of these humane ideals promoted collaborative practice among the front-line workforce while focusing upon the provision of welfare to inmates and their impending reintegration back into society.

This chapter is interested in how there has been a lack of transitional justice in Zimbabwe in the aftermath of the political disturbances and genocide of the early 1980s. The overarching argument is that the failure to recognise the value of Ubuntu has engendered a missed opportunity at transitional justice and healing of wounds, which were caused by the massacres. Ubuntu's three fundamental praxes, according to Samkange, are the three fundamental maxims: the respect and recognition of the humanity of others, the preservation of life (human and otherwise), and the importance of the will of the people in as far as governance is concerned. The failure, by ZANU-PF governments, to recognise the salience of these three maxims has led to the persistent marginalisation of ethnic minorities and also the violent impunity of governance characterised by human rights abuses. This chapter proposes an Afrocentric restorative justice model that is founded on the concept of Ubuntu and focuses on the salience of the spirit of humanity in managing human conflicts.

Transitional justice and its range of mechanisms and goals appear to be an important debate about how to deal with past human rights abuses in transition societies or post conflicts. Because of the Peace and Justice Law 975 of 2005 and the actual Colombian scenario of a peace process between the Colombian state and FARC, the analysis of this kind of “justice” and the indigenous jurisdiction appear to be a complex subject in Colombia. The authors would like to discuss, the different uses of international and national laws concerning Indigenous peoples in Colombia, as a social process of complex interactions involving different types of agents (State actors, NGOs, international organizations, indigenous organizations, lawyers, etc.). In addition, it will be important to discuss how the transitional justice framework in Colombia brings up some incongruence to coordinate and apply concepts accordingly to the indigenous jurisdiction, drawing on four case studies and ethnographical work dealing with the international production of customary law.

The penultimate chapter offers a discussion of the prospects for a genuine transitional justice process in Syria. Chapter 10 begins with a short history of the development of the archetypal tools within the transitional justice toolkit—criminal accountability, truth commissions, reparations, amnesties, lustration, institutional reform, and guarantees of nonrecurrence—and the way in which transitional justice efforts have become increasingly internationalized. This enhanced involvement of the international community in promoting transitional justice reflects the belief—premised on historical case studies and emerging empirical research—that societies in transition must address the crimes of the past in some capacity or risk their repetition. The chapter surveys the most recent research testing these claims, which has benefited from the creation of a number of new databases gleaned from states in transition. The chapter then describes ways in which the international community has tried to prepare for a future transitional justice process in Syria even in the absence of a political transition, including by training Syrian advocates, surveying Syrian communities to understand their knowledge of transitional justice and preferences for Syria, promoting psychosocial rehabilitation and solidarity among victims, and preparing for truth-telling exercises and institutional reform measures. The conclusion suggests ways in which the international community could still promote some form of transitional justice as part of the reconstruction process, even if Assad remains in power, which seems increasingly likely.

Transitional justice and its range of mechanisms and goals appear to be an important debate about how to deal with past human rights abuses in transition societies or post conflicts. Because of the Peace and Justice Law 975 of 2005 and the actual Colombian scenario of a peace process between the Colombian state and FARC, the analysis of this kind of “justice” and the indigenous jurisdiction appear to be a complex subject in Colombia. The authors would like to discuss, the different uses of international and national laws concerning Indigenous peoples in Colombia, as a social process of complex interactions involving different types of agents (State actors, NGOs, international organizations, indigenous organizations, lawyers, etc.). In addition, it will be important to discuss how the transitional justice framework in Colombia brings up some incongruence to coordinate and apply concepts accordingly to the indigenous jurisdiction, drawing on four case studies and ethnographical work dealing with the international production of customary law.

Pierre Nora once said, “We speak so much of memory because there is so little of it left.” Does it mean that we need to document memory so not to lose the truth? What is the ‘T'ruth? And from which perspective? Based on the Lebanese case, could films be one of the mechanisms used to achieve transitional justice? The author of this chapter depends on both Pierre Nora's perception of sites and place of memory along with Maurice Halbwachs' theory on collective memory in order to understand whether documenting the traumatic events is considered as an applicable mechanism to achieve justice within countries that struggle to accomplish national reconciliation? The methodological approach relies on visual critical discourse analysis combining Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutic approach and Norman Fairclough's perception of dialectic of discourse.