Despite the extended nature of many transitional justice processes, collection of relevant longitudinal primary data, especially at an individual level, is rarely observed as a means of assessing the impact of formal measures. This article reports on a panel survey conducted in 2002-2003 and 2008 with 153 victims of apartheid-era violations from Cape Town, South Africa. During the interval between the two waves of the survey, both undertaken after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) completed its work, government policies concerning reparations, prosecutions and pardons undermined the compromises that were central to the TRC process and integral to the democratic transition. The data analysis shows that approval of the unique conditional amnesty offered by the TRC was at first surprisingly high, with many respondents acknowledging its practical rationale, but it fell dramatically by 2008. This decline in support is associated with an increased sense of the unfairness of amnesty and dissatisfaction with the extent of truth recovery. Knowledge of and attitudes about prosecutions and pardons do not appear to be contributing factors, though the results indicate a greater desire for accountability, even at the risk of instability. The findings emphasize the need for rigorous, ongoing evaluation of transitional justice processes to appreciate properly the complex and dynamic nature of individual attitudes and the influence of emergent events.

The growing multitude of sophisticated event-level data collection enables novel analyses of conflict. Even when multiple event data sets are available, researchers tend to rely on only one. We instead advocate integrating information from multiple event data sets. The advantages include facilitating analysis of relationships between different types of conflict, providing more comprehensive empirical measurement, and evaluating the relative coverage and quality of data sets. Existing integration efforts have been performed manually, with significant limitations. Therefore, we introduce Matching Event Data by Location, Time and Type (MELTT)—an automated, transparent, reproducible methodology for integrating event data sets. For the cases of Nigeria 2011, South Sudan 2015, and Libya 2014, we show that using MELTT to integrate data from four leading conflict event data sets (Uppsala Conflict Data Project–Georeferenced Event Data, Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, Social Conflict Analysis Database, and Global Terrorism Database) provides a more complete picture of conflict. We also apply multiple systems estimation to show that each of these data sets has substantial missingness in coverage.

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Children who experience poor nutrition during the first 1000 days of life are more vulnerable to illness and death in the near term, as well as to lower work capacity and productivity as adults. These problems motivate research to identify basic and underlying factors that influence risks of child malnutrition. Based on a structured search of existing literature, we identified 90 studies that used statistical analyses to assess relationships between potential factors and major indicators of child malnutrition: stunting, wasting, and underweight. Our review determined that wasting, a measure of acute malnutrition, is substantially understudied compared to the other indicators. We summarize the evidence about relationships between child malnutrition and numerous factors at the individual, household, region/community, and country levels. Our results identify only select relationships that are statistically significant, with consistent signs, across multiple studies. Among the consistent predictors of child malnutrition are shocks due to variations in climate conditions (as measured with indicators of temperature, rainfall, and vegetation) and violent conflict. Limited research has been conducted on the relationship between violent conflict and wasting. Improved understanding of the variables associated with child malnutrition will aid advances in predictive modeling of the risks and severity of malnutrition crises and enhance the effectiveness of responses by the development and humanitarian communities.

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Building on Fearon and Laitin, who concede in-group policing could be exploited for genocidal purposes instead of moderating interethnic hostilities, the authors seek to explain variation in the scale of ethnic conflict, using data from Rwanda and Burundi. Their computational model assumes individuals vary in their propensity to engage in violence, form independent beliefs about others, and react to public messages about current levels of ethnic aggression. In addition, the dominant ethnic group is subject to genocidal norms—defectors who fail to participate in ethnic violence face sanctions. Their results demonstrate that (1) the scale of violence varies considerably across episodes; (2) interethnic conflicts are not structurally deterministic but rather reflect endogenous interactions; (3) interethnic trust influences patterns of conflict—communities exhibiting high degrees of trust generally experience intense violence that subsides rapidly, in contrast to the persistent, moderate violence characteristic of less trusting communities; and (4) stronger genocidal norms exacerbate ethnic violence.

An emergent priority in the field of transitional justice is gathering and analyzing empirical data to advance understanding of violent conflicts and responses to the transgressions committed during such events. A major segment of this research focuses on countries, policies, processes, and institutions as the units of observation. Among the limitations of such research, however, is the lack of direct, in-depth attention to relevant individual actors and their roles in these settings. Our article highlights a methodological approach that captures this perspective: surveys. Over recent years, scholars, NGOs, international organizations, and justice institutions have completed surveys of various scales with an assortment of populations, including those implicated in and/or exposed to violent conflict. Such surveys help to illuminate the circumstances and repercussions of conflict for individuals and their families and communities, their expectations about transitional justice, their assessments of contemplated and actual policies, processes and institutions, and the resulting impact on their attitudes, agency, and actions. In the process, these empirical data present a distinctive lens that we argue is integral to appreciating moral David Backer and Anupma Kulkarni 188Transitional Justice Review, Vol.1, Iss.4, 2016, 187-232 and pragmatic motivations for transitional justice, gauging responsiveness to the needs and interests of key constituencies, and evaluating consequences. We reflect on the merits, shortcomings, mechanics, challenges, and trade-offs of conducting surveys related to transitional justice in conflicted-affected societies. As part of the discussion, we cite examples of key studies from countries around the world, drawing on our own significant first-hand experience as well as research carried out by others. IntroductionAn emergent priority in the field of transitional justice is gathering and analyzing empirical data to improve responses to violent conflicts and associated transgressions. A major segment of this research focuses on countries, policies, processes, and institutions as units of observation.