Springer Series in Transitional Justice – serie

​Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States: The Rhetoric of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission  explores rhetorical attempts to authorize the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission—a grassroots, U.S.-based truth commission created in 2004 toredress past injustices in the city. Through detailed rhetorical analyses, the book demonstratesthat the development of the field of transitional justice has given rise to a transnational rhetorical tradition that provides those working in the field with series of “enabling constraints.” The book then shows how Greensboro stakeholders attempted to reaccentuate this rhetorical tradition in their rhetorical performances to construct authority and bring about justice, even as the tradition shaped their discourse in ways that limited the scope of their responses. Calling attention to the rhetorical interdependence among practitioners of transitional justice, this study offers insights into the development of transitional justice in the United States and in grassroots contexts in other liberal democracies. The volume is a relevant guide to scholars and practitioners of transitional justice as it brings into relief mechanisms of transitional justice that are frequently overlooked—namely, rhetorical mechanisms. It also speaks to any readers who may be interested in the communicative strategies/tactics that may be employed by grassroots transitional justice initiatives.

Transitional Justice and Civil Society in the Balkans covers civil society engagements with transitional justice processes in the Balkans. The Balkans are a region marked by the post-communist and post-conflict transitional turmoil through which its countries are going through. This volume is intended to provide a comprehensive introduction to research in transitional justice in this part of the world, mostly written by local scholars. Transitional justice is ever-growing field which responds to dilemmas over how successor regimes should deal with past human rights abuses of their authoritarian predecessors. The editors and author emphasize the relatively unexplored and under-researched role of civil society groups and social movements, such as local women’s groups, the role of art and community media and other grass-roots transitional justice mechanisms and initiatives. Through specific case-studies, the unique contribution of this volume is not only that it covers a part of the world that is not adequately represented in transitional justice field, but also that the volume is the first project originally researched and written by experts and scholars from the region or in collaboration with international scholars.

​​​​This book examines the role of economic violence (violations of economic and social rights, corruption, and plunder of natural resources) within the transitional justice agenda. Becauseeconomic violence often leads to conflict, is perpetrated during conflict, and continues afterwards as a legacy of conflict, a greater focus on economic and social rights issues in the transitional justice context is critical. One might add that insofar as transitional justice is increasingly seen as an instrument of peacebuilding rather than a simple political transition, focus on economic violence as the crucial “root cause” is key to preventing re-lapse into conflict.Recent increasing attention to economic issues by academics and truth commissions suggest this may be slowly changing, and that economic and social rights may represent the “next frontier” of transitional justice concerns. There remain difficult questions that have yet to be worked out at the level of theory, policy, and practice. Further scholarship in this regard is both timely, and necessary. This volume therefore presents an opportunity to fill an important gap. The project will bring together new papers by recognized and emerging scholars and policy experts in the field.​

​​The Art of Transitional Justice examines the relationship between transitional justice and the practices of art associatedwith it. Art, which includes theater, literature, photography, and film, hasbeen integral to the understanding of the issues faced in situations oftransitional justice as well as other issues arising out ofconflict and mass atrocity. The chapters in this volume take up this understandingand its demands of transitional justice in situations in several countries:Afghanistan, Serbia, Srebenica, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, Cambodia, as well asthe experiences of resulting diasporic communities. In doing so, it brings tobear the insights from scholars, civil society groups, and art practitioners,as well as interdisciplinary collaborations.

​​​​​​The Politics of Reparations and Apologies examines the evolution and dynamics of reparation politics and justice.   The volume introduces the key concepts, theories, and terms associated with social movements and in particular, the redress and reparation movement (RRM).  Drawing  from RRMs that have their foundation in World War  II--the   German  genocides,  the   United  States  internments,  and  the  Japanese  “comfort   women” system--  the volume explores each case study’s relative success or failure in achieving its goals and argues that there are overarching trends that can explain success and failure more generally in the RRM movement. Using the backdrop of international criminal law and normative concepts of reparations, the volume establishes and  analyzes the roles of reparations and apologies in obtaining transitional justice.In each case study, there is a detailed rundown of the political actions that were attempted to obtain redress and reparation for the victims, of how successful the attempts were, and of the crucial factors which influenced the relative success or failure. Crucially, the volume offers a comparative framework of the actions that contribute to a successful outcome for transitional justice.  With the increasing normative expectation of justice in post-conflict situations, this volume is a valuable resource for researchers in international affairs, human rights, political science, and conflict studies.

​Remaking Transitional Justice in the United States: The Rhetoric of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission  explores rhetorical attempts to authorize the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission—a grassroots, U.S.-based truth commission created in 2004 toredress past injustices in the city. Through detailed rhetorical analyses, the book demonstratesthat the development of the field of transitional justice has given rise to a transnational rhetorical tradition that provides those working in the field with series of “enabling constraints.” The book then shows how Greensboro stakeholders attempted to reaccentuate this rhetorical tradition in their rhetorical performances to construct authority and bring about justice, even as the tradition shaped their discourse in ways that limited the scope of their responses. Calling attention to the rhetorical interdependence among practitioners of transitional justice, this study offers insights into the development of transitional justice in the United States and in grassroots contexts in other liberal democracies. The volume is a relevant guide to scholars and practitioners of transitional justice as it brings into relief mechanisms of transitional justice that are frequently overlooked—namely, rhetorical mechanisms. It also speaks to any readers who may be interested in the communicative strategies/tactics that may be employed by grassroots transitional justice initiatives.

Transitional Justice and Civil Society in the Balkans covers civil society engagements with transitional justice processes in the Balkans. The Balkans are a region marked by the post-communist and post-conflict transitional turmoil through which its countries are going through. This volume is intended to provide a comprehensive introduction to research in transitional justice in this part of the world, mostly written by local scholars. Transitional justice is ever-growing field which responds to dilemmas over how successor regimes should deal with past human rights abuses of their authoritarian predecessors. The editors and author emphasize the relatively unexplored and under-researched role of civil society groups and social movements, such as local women’s groups, the role of art and community media and other grass-roots transitional justice mechanisms and initiatives. Through specific case-studies, the unique contribution of this volume is not only that it covers a part of the world that is not adequately represented in transitional justice field, but also that the volume is the first project originally researched and written by experts and scholars from the region or in collaboration with international scholars.

​​​​​​The Politics of Reparations and Apologies examines the evolution and dynamics of reparation politics and justice.   The volume introduces the key concepts, theories, and terms associated with social movements and in particular, the redress and reparation movement (RRM).  Drawing  from RRMs that have their foundation in World War  II--the   German  genocides,  the   United  States  internments,  and  the  Japanese  “comfort   women” system--  the volume explores each case study’s relative success or failure in achieving its goals and argues that there are overarching trends that can explain success and failure more generally in the RRM movement. Using the backdrop of international criminal law and normative concepts of reparations, the volume establishes and  analyzes the roles of reparations and apologies in obtaining transitional justice.In each case study, there is a detailed rundown of the political actions that were attempted to obtain redress and reparation for the victims, of how successful the attempts were, and of the crucial factors which influenced the relative success or failure. Crucially, the volume offers a comparative framework of the actions that contribute to a successful outcome for transitional justice.  With the increasing normative expectation of justice in post-conflict situations, this volume is a valuable resource for researchers in international affairs, human rights, political science, and conflict studies.

​​The Art of Transitional Justice examines the relationship between transitional justice and the practices of art associatedwith it. Art, which includes theater, literature, photography, and film, hasbeen integral to the understanding of the issues faced in situations oftransitional justice as well as other issues arising out ofconflict and mass atrocity. The chapters in this volume take up this understandingand its demands of transitional justice in situations in several countries:Afghanistan, Serbia, Srebenica, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, Cambodia, as well asthe experiences of resulting diasporic communities. In doing so, it brings tobear the insights from scholars, civil society groups, and art practitioners,as well as interdisciplinary collaborations.

This book applies the dynamic field of transitional justice to conflict resolution in Israel/Palestine. Around the globe, diverse societies have pursued truth-telling, restorative justice and reconciliation to end conflict -- yet the language of transitional justice has been all but absent in Israel/Palestine. This volume squarely addresses how transitional justice could contribute to conflict transformation and accountability, incorporating the questions of collective justice, memory, and human rights. It covers the most important historical and legal issues facing Israel/Palestine with a focus on civil societies in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Latin America. Ultimately, the book proposes an unofficial Israeli-Palestinian Truth and Empathy Commission (IPTEC) to address gross human rights abuses committed by both nations.Transitional Justice for Israel/Palestine will be of interest to researchers, NGOs, and policy makers working in transitional justice and societies with ongoing conflict.

This book applies the dynamic field of transitional justice to conflict resolution in Israel/Palestine. Around the globe, diverse societies have pursued truth-telling, restorative justice and reconciliation to end conflict -- yet the language of transitional justice has been all but absent in Israel/Palestine. This volume squarely addresses how transitional justice could contribute to conflict transformation and accountability, incorporating the questions of collective justice, memory, and human rights. It covers the most important historical and legal issues facing Israel/Palestine with a focus on civil societies in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Latin America. Ultimately, the book proposes an unofficial Israeli-Palestinian Truth and Empathy Commission (IPTEC) to address gross human rights abuses committed by both nations.Transitional Justice for Israel/Palestine will be of interest to researchers, NGOs, and policy makers working in transitional justice and societies with ongoing conflict.

This book examines transitional justice in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, three Balkan countries navigating the challenges of reckoning with past human rights violations while building democratic institutions. Analyzing truth commissions, war crimes tribunals, reparations programs, and institutional reforms, it assesses the effectiveness of these mechanisms in fostering justice, reconciliation, and political stability.Drawing on case studies, expert interviews, and policy analyses, the book provides a comprehensive evaluation of transitional justice in post-conflict and post-communist societies. It considers the successes and limitations of different approaches, offering insights into their impact on governance, accountability, and social cohesion.A resource for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners, this book contributes to ongoing debates on justice and reconciliation, providing a nuanced understanding of transitional justice in the Balkans and its broader implications.

This book examines transitional justice in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, three Balkan countries navigating the challenges of reckoning with past human rights violations while building democratic institutions. Analyzing truth commissions, war crimes tribunals, reparations programs, and institutional reforms, it assesses the effectiveness of these mechanisms in fostering justice, reconciliation, and political stability.Drawing on case studies, expert interviews, and policy analyses, the book provides a comprehensive evaluation of transitional justice in post-conflict and post-communist societies. It considers the successes and limitations of different approaches, offering insights into their impact on governance, accountability, and social cohesion.A resource for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners, this book contributes to ongoing debates on justice and reconciliation, providing a nuanced understanding of transitional justice in the Balkans and its broader implications.

This volume explores the evolving and complex memorial consequences of state-sponsored violence in post-dictatorial Argentina. Specifically, it looks at the power and significance of personal emotions and affects in shaping memorial culture. This volume contends that we need to look beyond political and ideological contestations to a deeper level of how memorial cultures are formed and sustained. It argues that we cannot account for the politics of memory in modern-day Argentina without acknowledging and exploring the role played by individual emotions and affects in generating and shaping collective emotions and affects. Drawing from direct testimony from Argentinian women who have experienced political and physical violence, the research in this volume aims at understanding how their memories may be a different source of insight into the deep animosities within and between Argentine memorial cultures.In direct contrast to the nominally objective and universalist sensibility that traditionally has driven transitional justice endeavours, this volume examines how affective memories of trauma are a potentially disruptive power within the reconciliation paradigm—and thus affect should be taken into account when considering transitional justice. Accordingly, Cultures of Remembrance for Women in Post-Dictatorial Argentina is an excellent resource for those interested in human rights, transitional justice, clinical psychology and social work, and Latin American conflicts.

This volume considers the dynamic relations between the contemporary practices of international criminal tribunals and the ways in which competing histories, politics and discourses are re-imagined and re-constructed in the former Yugoslavia and beyond. There are two innovative aspects of the book - one is the focus on narratives of justice and their production, another is in its comparative perspective. While legal scholars have tended to analyze transitional justice and the international war tribunals in terms of their success or failure in establishing the facts of war crimes, this volume goes beyond mere facts and investigates how the courts create a symbolic space within which competing narratives of crimes, perpetrators and victims are produced, circulated and contested. It analyzes how international criminal law and the courts gather, and in turn produce, knowledge about societies in war, their histories and identities, and their relations to the wider world.Moreover, the volume situates narratives of transitional justice in former Yugoslavia both within specific national spaces - such as Serbia, and Bosnia - and beyond the Yugoslav. In this way it also considers experiences from other countries and other times (post-World War II) to offer a sounding board for re-thinking the meanings of transitional justice and institutions within former Yugoslavia. Included in the volume's coverage is a look at the Rwandan tribunals, the trials of Charles Taylor, Radovan Karadzic, the Srebrenica genocide, and other war crimes and criminals in the Yugoslav. Finally, it frames all of those narratives and experiences within the global dynamics of legal, social and geo-political transformations, making it an excellent resource for social science researchers, human rights activists, those interested in the former Yugoslavia and international relations, and legal scholars.

This volume is an inter-disciplinary scholarly resource bringing together contributions from writers, experienced academics and practitioners working in fields such as human rights, humanitarian law, public policy, psychology, cultural and peace studies, and earth jurisprudence. This collection of essays presents the most up to date knowledge and status of the field of transitional justice, and also highlights the emerging debates in this area, which are often overseen and underdeveloped in the literature. The volume provides a wide coverage of the arguments relating to controversial issues emanating from different regions of the world. The book is divided into four parts which groups different aspects of the problems and issues facing transitional justice as a field, and its processes and mechanisms more specifically. Part I concentrates on the traditional means and methods of dealing with past gross abuses of power and political violence. In this section, the authors also expand and often challenge the ways that these processes and mechanisms are conceptualised and introduced. Part II provides a forum for the contributors to share their first hand experiences of how traditional and customary mechanisms of achieving justice can be effectively utilised. Part III includes a collection of essays which challenges existing transitional justice models and provides new lenses to examine the formal and traditional processes and mechanisms. It aims to expose insufficiencies and some of the inherent practical and jurisprudential problems facing the field. Finally, Part IV, looks to the future by examining what remedies can be available today for abuses of rights of the future generations and those who have no standing to claim their rights, such as the environment.

The period immediately following Kenya's 2007 presidential election left a shocking trail of atrocities, with over 1,000 people dead and countless thousands left victimised and displaced. In response, the International Criminal Court began a series of investigations and trials, promising no impunity for even the highest ranking perpetrators. When the country's president and vice-president were implicated in the crimes, the case took on worldwide significance.The International Criminal Court and the End of Impunity in Kenya is a five-year study addressing critical human rights issues with a global reach and is the first detailed account of the ICC's intervention in Kenya. It probes the relationship between the ICC and state institutions, known as positive complementarity, and asks whether the ICC's intervention led to an end to impunity. The author provides comprehensive analysis of the Waki Commission's sealed envelope, the government's attempts to establish a special tribunal and the trials in The Hague. He also provides in depth consideration of any influence the ICC's intervention may have had on the passing of a new constitution, the establishment of a truth commission and important reforms to the judiciary, police and witness protection programme.Documenting the effects of these interventions on the Kenyan people, and on the country's legal and judicial systems, the book provides vital lessons in global justice as it:•Details the ICC's involvement in Kenya in the aftermath of extreme violence and instability•Evaluates the ICC prosecutor's strategy of positive complementarity•Identifies optimal conditions for positive complementarity to be effective•Links cultures of impunity to state-sponsored corruption•Explores the possible impact of the ICC on national and global policy•Discusses implications in responding to future crimes against humanityReplete with officialgovernment sources, The International Criminal Court and the End of Impunity in Kenya is necessary reading for researchers and practitioners working in public international law, particularly those specialising in conflict and post-conflict states.

​This book intends to contribute to the growing body of transitional justice literature by providing insight into how truth commissions may be beneficial to victims of mass violence, based on data collected in Timor-Leste and on the Solomon Islands. Drawing on literature in the fields of victim psychology, procedural justice, and transitional justice, this study is guided by the puzzle of why truth-telling in post-conflict settings has been found to be both helpful and harmful to victims of mass violence. Existing studies have identified a range of positive benefits and negative consequences of truth-telling for victims; however, the reasons why some victims experience a sense of healing while others do not after participating in post-conflict truth commission processes continues to remain unclear. Hence, to address one piece of this complex puzzle, this book seeks to begin clarifying how truth-telling may be beneficial for victims by investigating the question: What pathways lead from truth-telling to victim healing in post-conflict settings? Building on the proposition that having voice—a key component of procedural justice—can help individuals to overcome the disempowerment and marginalisation of victimisation, this book investigates voice­ as a  causal mechanism that can create pathways toward healing within truth commission public hearings.   Comparative, empirical studies that investigate how truth-telling contributes to victim healing in post-conflict settings are scarce in the field of transitional justice. This book begins to fill an important gap in the existing body of literature. From a practical standpoint, by enhancing understanding of how truth commissions can promote healing, the findings and arguments in this volume provide insight into how the design of transitional justice processes may be improved in the future to better respond to the needs of victims of mass violence.

This volume is an inter-disciplinary scholarly resource bringing together contributions from writers, experienced academics and practitioners working in fields such as human rights, humanitarian law, public policy, psychology, cultural and peace studies, and earth jurisprudence. This collection of essays presents the most up to date knowledge and status of the field of transitional justice, and also highlights the emerging debates in this area, which are often overseen and underdeveloped in the literature. The volume provides a wide coverage of the arguments relating to controversial issues emanating from different regions of the world. The book is divided into four parts which groups different aspects of the problems and issues facing transitional justice as a field, and its processes and mechanisms more specifically. Part I concentrates on the traditional means and methods of dealing with past gross abuses of power and political violence. In this section, the authors also expand and often challenge the ways that these processes and mechanisms are conceptualised and introduced. Part II provides a forum for the contributors to share their first hand experiences of how traditional and customary mechanisms of achieving justice can be effectively utilised. Part III includes a collection of essays which challenges existing transitional justice models and provides new lenses to examine the formal and traditional processes and mechanisms. It aims to expose insufficiencies and some of the inherent practical and jurisprudential problems facing the field. Finally, Part IV, looks to the future by examining what remedies can be available today for abuses of rights of the future generations and those who have no standing to claim their rights, such as the environment.

The period immediately following Kenya's 2007 presidential election left a shocking trail of atrocities, with over 1,000 people dead and countless thousands left victimised and displaced. In response, the International Criminal Court began a series of investigations and trials, promising no impunity for even the highest ranking perpetrators. When the country's president and vice-president were implicated in the crimes, the case took on worldwide significance.The International Criminal Court and the End of Impunity in Kenya is a five-year study addressing critical human rights issues with a global reach and is the first detailed account of the ICC's intervention in Kenya. It probes the relationship between the ICC and state institutions, known as positive complementarity, and asks whether the ICC's intervention led to an end to impunity. The author provides comprehensive analysis of the Waki Commission's sealed envelope, the government's attempts to establish a special tribunal and the trials in The Hague. He also provides in depth consideration of any influence the ICC's intervention may have had on the passing of a new constitution, the establishment of a truth commission and important reforms to the judiciary, police and witness protection programme.Documenting the effects of these interventions on the Kenyan people, and on the country's legal and judicial systems, the book provides vital lessons in global justice as it:•Details the ICC's involvement in Kenya in the aftermath of extreme violence and instability•Evaluates the ICC prosecutor's strategy of positive complementarity•Identifies optimal conditions for positive complementarity to be effective•Links cultures of impunity to state-sponsored corruption•Explores the possible impact of the ICC on national and global policy•Discusses implications in responding to future crimes against humanityReplete with officialgovernment sources, The International Criminal Court and the End of Impunity in Kenya is necessary reading for researchers and practitioners working in public international law, particularly those specialising in conflict and post-conflict states.

This volume considers the dynamic relations between the contemporary practices of international criminal tribunals and the ways in which competing histories, politics and discourses are re-imagined and re-constructed in the former Yugoslavia and beyond. There are two innovative aspects of the book - one is the focus on narratives of justice and their production, another is in its comparative perspective. While legal scholars have tended to analyze transitional justice and the international war tribunals in terms of their success or failure in establishing the facts of war crimes, this volume goes beyond mere facts and investigates how the courts create a symbolic space within which competing narratives of crimes, perpetrators and victims are produced, circulated and contested. It analyzes how international criminal law and the courts gather, and in turn produce, knowledge about societies in war, their histories and identities, and their relations to the wider world.Moreover, the volume situates narratives of transitional justice in former Yugoslavia both within specific national spaces - such as Serbia, and Bosnia - and beyond the Yugoslav. In this way it also considers experiences from other countries and other times (post-World War II) to offer a sounding board for re-thinking the meanings of transitional justice and institutions within former Yugoslavia. Included in the volume's coverage is a look at the Rwandan tribunals, the trials of Charles Taylor, Radovan Karadzic, the Srebrenica genocide, and other war crimes and criminals in the Yugoslav. Finally, it frames all of those narratives and experiences within the global dynamics of legal, social and geo-political transformations, making it an excellent resource for social science researchers, human rights activists, those interested in the former Yugoslavia and international relations, and legal scholars.

This volume explores the evolving and complex memorial consequences of state-sponsored violence in post-dictatorial Argentina. Specifically, it looks at the power and significance of personal emotions and affects in shaping memorial culture. This volume contends that we need to look beyond political and ideological contestations to a deeper level of how memorial cultures are formed and sustained. It argues that we cannot account for the politics of memory in modern-day Argentina without acknowledging and exploring the role played by individual emotions and affects in generating and shaping collective emotions and affects. Drawing from direct testimony from Argentinian women who have experienced political and physical violence, the research in this volume aims at understanding how their memories may be a different source of insight into the deep animosities within and between Argentine memorial cultures.In direct contrast to the nominally objective and universalist sensibility that traditionally has driven transitional justice endeavours, this volume examines how affective memories of trauma are a potentially disruptive power within the reconciliation paradigm—and thus affect should be taken into account when considering transitional justice. Accordingly, Cultures of Remembrance for Women in Post-Dictatorial Argentina is an excellent resource for those interested in human rights, transitional justice, clinical psychology and social work, and Latin American conflicts.

​This book intends to contribute to the growing body of transitional justice literature by providing insight into how truth commissions may be beneficial to victims of mass violence, based on data collected in Timor-Leste and on the Solomon Islands. Drawing on literature in the fields of victim psychology, procedural justice, and transitional justice, this study is guided by the puzzle of why truth-telling in post-conflict settings has been found to be both helpful and harmful to victims of mass violence. Existing studies have identified a range of positive benefits and negative consequences of truth-telling for victims; however, the reasons why some victims experience a sense of healing while others do not after participating in post-conflict truth commission processes continues to remain unclear. Hence, to address one piece of this complex puzzle, this book seeks to begin clarifying how truth-telling may be beneficial for victims by investigating the question: What pathways lead from truth-telling to victim healing in post-conflict settings? Building on the proposition that having voice—a key component of procedural justice—can help individuals to overcome the disempowerment and marginalisation of victimisation, this book investigates voice­ as a  causal mechanism that can create pathways toward healing within truth commission public hearings.   Comparative, empirical studies that investigate how truth-telling contributes to victim healing in post-conflict settings are scarce in the field of transitional justice. This book begins to fill an important gap in the existing body of literature. From a practical standpoint, by enhancing understanding of how truth commissions can promote healing, the findings and arguments in this volume provide insight into how the design of transitional justice processes may be improved in the future to better respond to the needs of victims of mass violence.

This edited volume examines the role of local civil society in shaping understandings and processes of transitional justice in Africa – a nursery of transitional justice ideas for well over two decades. It brings together practitioners and scholars with intimate knowledge of these processes to evaluate the agendas and strategies of local civil society, and offers an opportunity to reflect on ‘lessons learnt’ along the way. The contributors focus on the evolution and effectiveness of transitional justice interventions, providing a glimpse into the motivations and inner workings of major civil society actors. The book presents an African perspective on transitional justice through a compilation of country-specific and thematic analyses of agenda setting and lobbying efforts. It offers insights into state–civil society relations on the continent, which shape these agendas. The chapters present case studies from Southern, Central, East, West and North Africa, and a rangeof moments and types of transition. In addition to historical perspective, the chapters provide fresh and up-to- date analyses of ongoing transitional justice efforts that are key to defining the future of how the field is understood globally, in theory and in practiceEndorsements:"This great volume of written work – Advocating Transitional Justice in Africa: The Role of Civil Society – does what virtually no other labor of the intellect has done heretofore. Authored by movement activists and thinkers in the fields of human rights and transitional justice, the volume wrestles with the complex place and roles of transitional justice in the project of societal reconstruction in Africa. … This volume will serve as a timely and thought-provoking guide for activists, thinkers, and policy makers – as well as students of transitional justice – interested in the tension between the universal and the particular in the arduous struggle for liberation. Often, civil society actors in Africa have been accused of consuming the ideas of others, but not producing enough, if any, of their own. This volume makes clear the spuriousness of this claim and firmly plants an African flag in the field of ideas." Makau Mutua