Transitional justice as social control: political transitions, human rights norms and the reclassification of the past

Abstract

This article offers an interpretation of transitional justice policies - the efforts of post-conflict and post-dictatorship societies to address the legacy of past abuses - as a form of social control. While transitional justice is commonly conceptualized as responding to a core problem of impunity, this article argues that such formulation is too narrow and leads to lack of coherence in the analysis of the diverse array of transitional mechanisms, which include among others trials, truth commissions, reparations for victims and apologies. Building on the work of Stanley Cohen, the article contends that the core transitional problem is the denial of human rights violations, and consequently that the common purpose of all transitional justice mechanisms is to reclassify the past: redefining as deviant some acts and individuals which prior to the transition were considered 'normal'. The article identifies and analyses three themes in the application of a social control framework to transitional justice: (1) truth, memory and retroactive social control, pertains to the way truth-seeking transitional justice mechanisms reclassify past events by engaging in social control of and through memory; (2) censure, celebration and transitional social control refers to the reclassification of categories of individuals through expressions of both social disapproval and praise; and (3) civil society and social control from below concerns the role of social movements, organizations and groups as informal agents of social control during transitions. The concluding section recaps and briefly explores the concept of 'good moral panic' in the context of political transitions. While the concept of social control tends to have negative connotations for critical sociologists, this work suggests that efforts to categorize, punish and disapprove certain behaviours as deviant may not only be viewed as supporting a conservative status-quo, but also as promoting fledging human rights norms.

Closing the ranks: Bondedness, sense of self and moral injury during legacy case prosecutions

“…Far from being ‘normal’ criminal justice prosecutions, legacy case prosecutions cut to the heart of collective identities, opposing expectations of post-conflict ‘justice’, and dichotomous views on who or what is to blame for the conflict in the North of Ireland. While these issues are invariably contested at wider societal level (Dudai, 2018), legacy case prosecutions are a highly emotive threat that challenges the sense of self, cultivates a sense of moral injury, and reinforces bondedness among former British soldiers. Rather than being an unthinking kneejerk reaction to the belated prosecution of a handful of former soldiers, their protests reveal just how ingrained their ‘peacekeeper’ self-image is within the veteran psyche.…”

“…Legacy case investigations, from the veteran perspective at least, epitomise the post-conflict censuring of those once celebrated as heroes but now ‘seen’ as villains (Dudai, 2018). Because veterans believe that they did ‘the right thing’ in NI, legacy case prosecutions are injurious to their collective sense of self.…”

“…A former British soldier – Soldier F – was subsequently sent for prosecution over Bloody Sunday in March 2019, 1 while a small number of former British soldiers are being – or have been unsuccessfully - prosecuted over other conflict-related deaths in what has been a bitterly contested and highly convoluted criminal justice process. 2 These developments reflect the ‘reclassification’ of the past when previous acts of violence that went unpunished, and perhaps even celebrated, are critically (re)examined following transition out of protracted violence (Dudai, 2018).…”

FGM and Restorative Justice—A Challenge for Developing Countries and for Refugee Women

“…Not only are there global intervention and advocacy programs to prevent FGM, but there is a further argument that the existence of FGM is justification for asylum, as it is an important reason for women to seek protection or a safer life in another country to escape severe physical and psychological harm [4] (19,565), despite the total number of female applicants having increased from 65,125 in 2008 to 93,350 in 2011 due mostly to the general reduction in asylum claims from Somalia; Somali women and girls represented about 20% of all female applicants in 2011".…”

“…Restorative justice is usually also seen as a positive and necessary step in the psychological recovery of groups and individuals, and it is known as an interdisciplinary challenge (see also Reiter, [18]). It includes the consideration of legal, economical, sociological, medical, psychological, and cultural factors and frequently makes use of culture based arbitration and justice models provided by traditional local cultures [19], such as Gacaca courts in Rwanda [20].…”