POL300H1S L5101

Topics in Comparative Politics

Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies

Themes

The main objective of this course is to help students understand the practice of seeking justice in post-conflict societies. Students will examine key concepts and theoretical and practical problems in confronting large-scale social violence, including war, genocide, and authoritarian rule. Students will explore recent attempts to establish just outcomes in post-conflict settings and assess approaches to and debates over different mechanisms of transitional justice employed in these settings, including truth and reconciliation commissions, ad-hoc criminal tribunals, the international criminal court, hybrid courts, and domestic courts. The case studies highlight social, political, economic, legal, and international dynamics of transitional justice and point out conflicts oriented around ethnicity, race, gender, religion, class, territory, and resources. The course ends by exposing tensions between the aim of justice and other crucial aims in post-conflict societies, including peace, reconciliation, reconstruction, and economic development.

Texts

Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness; Coursepack

Format and Requirements

Essay, research paper, class participation

Prerequisites

1.0 POL credit