1. Theorizing Transitional Justice

Abstract

This chapter outlines a normative conception of transitional justice, focusing on the UN Secretary General's Report, “The Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies.” This report offers not only a definition of transitional justice but also a sophisticated understanding of the notion. It defines transitional justice as “the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society's attempts to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation.” However, the chapter argues that the consensus around any given understanding of transitional justice and its components is far from complete. The idea that transitional justice should be conceived of holistically, as stated in the Secretary General's Report, clashes, in practice, with the tendency of governments and others to think that the different measures can be traded off against one another.

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