No Amnesty from/for the International: The Production and Promotion of TRCs as an International Norm in Sierra Leone

MacKenzie, Megan; Sesay, Mohamed

doi:10.1111/j.1528-3585.2012.00461.x

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The conceptualization of the mandate of the SLTRC was the first step of fundamental errors that defined the commission’s processes and lack of success. The SLTRC’s mandate was drafted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in consultation with international experts within Sierra Leone in line with international norms (MacKenzie & Sesay, 2012). Gender issues are culturally relevant issues and should be locally driven (Bastick, 2007).…”

Section: Gender Mainstreaming At the Sierra Leone Truth And Reconcili...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Justice mirage? Sierra Leone’s truth and reconciliation commission and local women’s experiences.

Unobe¹

2022

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Following an 11-year civil war, Sierra Leone implemented transitional justice to address years of repression and massive human rights violations. As an improvement to the South Africa transitional justice model, the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SLTRC) incorporated gender in its mandate to address women's peculiar experiences of war. Despite the presence of women at the commission, however, women remain marginalized in postconflict Sierra Leone, and many of the recommendations of the truth commission have not been implemented. This article argues that the lack of success of the commission and transitional justice in advancing the status of women in Sierra Leone is due to the "one-fits-all" model of transitional justice that does not cater to local dynamics. This article, therefore, argues for a phenomenological approach that caters to local women's experiences for meaningful transitional justice. Public Significance StatementThis article contributes to the growing body of work that seeks to examine the minimal success of transitional justice in creating new realities for women in postconflict settings. By taking a phenomenological approach in relation to gender equity, this article foregrounds a critical angle that has been underexplored. By doing so, it enhances the conversation in various circles, exposes blind spots, and creates new possibilities for the advancement of status for women in postconflict settings.

show abstract

Section: Gender Mainstreaming At the Sierra Leone Truth And Reconcili...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Justice mirage? Sierra Leone’s truth and reconciliation commission and local women’s experiences.

Unobe¹

2022

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While there is significant debate over exactly how this process occurs (Deitelhoff andZimmermann 2019, Wiener 2008), it is a default assumption across the constructivist literature that new international norms have the potential to apply everywhere, since "the global order touches all" and "global norms affect all" (Wiener 2018, 1), an assumption that then drives the normative importance of their research problems. While some research has focused on the uneven reception of 'global' norms arising from interactions with local norms or resistance from local elites, in addition to the ethical desirableness of this process (Wunderlich 2020, Acharya 2004, MacKenzie and Sesay 2012, Zwingel 2012, Wiener 2018, the remnants of the moral cosmopolitanism prevalent within early social constructivist studies (Acharya 2004, 242-243) still carries weight, particularly when it comes to the assumption of the potential empirical universalism of norms. This predisposition to think of norm change as being universal in scope can be seen explicitly in the targeted killing debate.…”

Section: Targeted Killingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membership Has Its Privileges: Targeted Killing Norms and the Firewall of International Society

Keating

2022

International Studies Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There has been a long-standing debate over the ethics of targeted killing, with many scholars voicing concern over whether technological advancements and normative change are driving the normalization of these operations. Framed through social constructivism, they argue that the persistent use of these operations, combined with a lack of vocal opposition among states, makes a global norm cascade in favor of targeted killing increasingly possible. However, given the increasing number of states that have conducted these operations persistently over the past twenty years, why are these operations still bounded to violent non-state actors? This paper puts forward an alternative perspective that explains the bounded persistence of these operations via a novel construction of the international society/international system distinction found in the English School of International Politics. It argues that international society acts as a firewall against the generalization of these practices, compartmentalizing the potential norm erosion. In doing so, this paper not only reintroduces the theoretical utility of one of the more fundamental theoretical contributions of the English School, but also provides a new framework to understand interactions between members of international society and other violent non-state actors. El debate sobre la ética de los asesinatos selectivos viene de lejos y muchos investigadores han expresado su preocupación sobre si los avances tecnológicos y el cambio normativo están impulsando la normalización de estas operaciones. Enmarcados en el constructivismo social, argumentan que el uso persistente de estas operaciones, combinado con la falta de una oposición energética por parte los Estados, hace cada vez más posible una cascada de normativas globales a favor de los asesinatos selectivos. Pero, teniendo en cuenta, el creciente número de Estados que han llevado a cabo estas operaciones de forma persistente en los últimos 20 años, ¿por qué estas operaciones siguen estando limitadas a actores no estatales violentos? Este artículo propone una perspectiva alternativa que explica la persistencia limitada de estas operaciones a través de una novedosa construcción de la distinción de sociedad internacional/sistema internacional que se puede encontrar en la Escuela inglesa de política internacional, argumentando que la sociedad internacional actúa como un cortafuegos contra la generalización de estas prácticas, compartimentando la potencial erosión normativa. De esta forma, este artículo no sólo reintroduce la utilidad teórica de una de las contribuciones teóricas más fundamentales de la Escuela inglesa, sino que proporciona un nuevo marco para entender las interacciones entre los miembros de la sociedad internacional y otros actores violentos no estatales. Le caractère éthique de l'assassinat ciblé est l'objet d'un débat déjà ancien, et un grand nombre de chercheurs et chercheuses ont exprimé leurs craintes quant au fait que les avancées technologiques et les évolutions normatives puissent entraîner la banalisation d'une telle pratique. Via le prisme du constructivisme social, ces universitaires affirment que l'utilisation persistante de telles opérations et le manque d'opposition ferme exprimée par les différents États rendent de plus en plus probable une diffusion de la pratique de l'assassinat ciblé à l’échelle mondiale. Néanmoins, au vu du nombre d’États ayant régulièrement recours à ces opérations au cours des vingt dernières années, nous pouvons nous demander pourquoi celles-ci sont toujours limitées à des acteurs violents non étatiques. Cet article propose une perspective alternative démontrant la persistance de cette limitation au moyen d'une nouvelle interprétation de la distinction entre société internationale et système international, telle qu’élaborée par l’École anglaise des relations internationales. Il avance que la société internationale agit comme un pare-feu contre la généralisation de ces pratiques, limitant ainsi la potentielle érosion des normes. Ainsi, outre le fait de remettre en lumière l'utilité théorique de l'une des contributions les plus fondamentales de l’École anglaise, cet article propose un nouveau cadre d'analyse pour comprendre les interactions entre les membres de la société internationale et d'autres acteurs non étatiques violents.

show abstract

“…91 Megan MacKenzie and Mohamed Sesay document the power asymmetries which resulted in Sierra Leone having little choice in, or power over, its own TJ process. 92 This type of research often tends towards both intrinsic and instrumental justification, making it hard to fit even approximately into the value positions outlined here. Shaw, for example, maintains that speaking of the war in public in Sierra Leone undermines established processes for healing and reconciliation at the village and familial levels.…”

Section: Donors 80mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Evaluators: Transitional Justice and the Contest of Values

Ainley¹

2017

International Journal of Transitional Justice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Journal for providing generous and insightful feedback on the article during the review process and to participants at the 'Futures, Challenges and Transformations for Transitional Justice' workshop at the University of Minnesota Law School in 2016 for their comments on an earlier version. Recent work on transitional justice (TJ) has exposed the difficulties both of establishing agreement over what TJ is and of evaluating its effects. 1 This article contributes to scholarship on evaluating TJ by showing how differences in understandings of the nature and value of 'justice' in TJ affect the focus of scholarly research and interpretation of its results. TJ is understood here to be a series of (usually legalized) political practices, in line with others who recognize TJ as something more than simply a legal project. 2 Judgements of the successes, failures and impacts of TJ are part of this political practiceassessments affect the kinds of TJ programmes which will be implemented in future. As politics is fundamentally about negotiating values and interests, this article parses the values inherent in TJ evaluation (and, by implication, in much TJ practice). 3 The aim is not to present the 'right' values to hold in relation to TJ, but instead to think through the ways in which different value orientations lead to different appraisals of TJ programmes. The evaluation of evaluation (with 'evaluation' interpreted broadly heresee below) matters not just for academic reasons but also because TJ is increasingly commonplace. 4 Transitional mechanisms have been mooted for all current conflicts and recent postconflict states, and TJ attracts a high level of donor funding and nongovernmental organization (NGO) support. Indeed, Makau Mutua claims that 'in many circles, transitional justice has become an article of faith as a catalyst for reclaiming societies in political and social imbalance and dysfunction.' 5 There is considerable demand from practitioners for policy advice on which TJ mechanisms should be funded and how they should be designed, and scholars have a responsibility to ensure that advice given is justified by the

show abstract

No Amnesty from/for the International: The Production and Promotion of TRCs as an International Norm in Sierra Leone

Cited by 18 publications

References 19 publications

Justice mirage? Sierra Leone’s truth and reconciliation commission and local women’s experiences.

Justice mirage? Sierra Leone’s truth and reconciliation commission and local women’s experiences.

Membership Has Its Privileges: Targeted Killing Norms and the Firewall of International Society

Evaluating the Evaluators: Transitional Justice and the Contest of Values

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About