Transitional Justice in Today's World: How Can Democracies Settle Their Pasts?
This block-course will look at the origins of transitional justice, its different tools, and how they were utilized in post-conflict societies. This knowledge will help students understand why the usage of classic transitional justice methods, such as truth commissions and reparations in democratic states, is a new phenomenon. For this, we will analyse states that are trying to deal with their (colonial) past and their endeavours to decolonize their present and future, such as Canada, Belgium, and Nordic Countries.
Course Description
This course will help students understand the basics of restorative justice, reconciliation, and transitional justice through learning the theories and some practical examples. The course examines settler colonialism in reconciliation policies and their regimes of truth. We discuss realities, theories, and critiques of settler colonialism through truth and reconciliation commissions. The course focuses on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and also looks at truth commissions and reconciliation policies in North America and Europe. The course is organized in three parts:
(1) Theories and Definitions
(2) International Examples
(3) Reconciliation’s impact
Through a comparative political study that is transnational and intersectional, we address the following questions: What is truth and reconciliation?; How do truth commissions, and the discourses and ideologies of reconciliation generated through them, produce (in)justice?; What do the political imperatives and operations of these commissions teach us about settler colonialism?; Why do Indigenous peoples refuse ‘reconciliation’ and how does the refusal reveal limits in colonial power? To answer these questions, we explore commission and inquiry reports, laws, and an array of interdisciplinary scholarship.
The readings, lectures, and discussion sessions will centre around three overarching topics. First, the course provides an overview of the theory and practice of the field of transitional justice as well as different types of transitional justice mechanisms, including reparations, international tribunals, trials, and truth commissions. Second, the course considers the role that transitional justice plays in post-conflict reconstruction, democratization, and national reconciliation. Lastly, the course will involve a concentrated, comparative study of truth commissions in consolidated democracies, and their efficacy in promoting national reconciliation and undertaking societal redress for past injustice.
This block-course will look at the origins of transitional justice, its different tools, and how they were utilized in post-conflict societies. This knowledge will help students understand why the usage of classic transitional justice methods, such as truth commissions and reparations in democratic states, is a new phenomenon. For this, we will analyse states that are trying to deal with their (colonial) past and their endeavours to decolonize their present and future, such as Canada, Belgium, and Nordic Countries.
Course Description
This course will help students understand the basics of restorative justice, reconciliation, and transitional justice through learning the theories and some practical examples. The course examines settler colonialism in reconciliation policies and their regimes of truth. We discuss realities, theories, and critiques of settler colonialism through truth and reconciliation commissions. The course focuses on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and also looks at truth commissions and reconciliation policies in North America and Europe. The course is organized in three parts:
(1) Theories and Definitions
(2) International Examples
(3) Reconciliation’s impact
Through a comparative political study that is transnational and intersectional, we address the following questions: What is truth and reconciliation?; How do truth commissions, and the discourses and ideologies of reconciliation generated through them, produce (in)justice?; What do the political imperatives and operations of these commissions teach us about settler colonialism?; Why do Indigenous peoples refuse ‘reconciliation’ and how does the refusal reveal limits in colonial power? To answer these questions, we explore commission and inquiry reports, laws, and an array of interdisciplinary scholarship.
The readings, lectures, and discussion sessions will centre around three overarching topics. First, the course provides an overview of the theory and practice of the field of transitional justice as well as different types of transitional justice mechanisms, including reparations, international tribunals, trials, and truth commissions. Second, the course considers the role that transitional justice plays in post-conflict reconstruction, democratization, and national reconciliation. Lastly, the course will involve a concentrated, comparative study of truth commissions in consolidated democracies, and their efficacy in promoting national reconciliation and undertaking societal redress for past injustice.
- Lehrende:r: Selen Kazan