In spite of the abundant literature that transitional justice has generated in recent years, it is often said that it is an under-theorised field. In this sense, it would seem that it lacks a systematic articulation of the meaning of transitional justice itself as well as of the constellation of concepts it deploys such as justice, truth, transition and reconciliation. The editors of Transitional Justice Theories take that premise as their starting point and collect a series of contributions which approach transitional justice theoretically. They recognise that there is not a single theory of transitional justice and they attribute this to the variety of perspectives from which the subject is approached. The result is a heterogeneous volume that touches upon most of the current issues around transitional justice: the nexus between transitional justice and peacebuilding, the use of reparations, the expansion of the field and critiques of transitional justice as an international project. The book also addresses some of the classic themes of transitional justice such as memory, truth and reconciliation. The editors’ introduction highlights transitional justice's need for further theorisation and offers a comprehensive overview of existing trends in that direction.
The book is divided into two sections. The first – theorising transitional justice – contains chapters which seek to improve the field by organising its concepts and goals. These apply to the whole of transitional justice or to a particular mechanism or measure. The second – exploring the limits of transitional justice – collects essays coming from a more critical perspective. These chapters question concepts, assumptions and the meaning of transitional justice. This structural division notwithstanding, the contributions contained in the book can easily be separated into two camps: those that offer a new theoretical framework to organise all or some elements of the field and those that take a theory or concept from another discipline and apply it to transitional justice. Among the first, Wendy Lambourne (Chapter 1) proposes a model of transformative justice which situates transitional justice in the context of peacebuilding. Based on fieldwork in Cambodia, Rwanda, East Timor and Sierra Leone, her conception of transformative justice comprises four elements: legal justice, psychosocial justice, socioeconomic justice and political justice. The contribution of Thomas Obel Hansen (Chapter 5) turns to the changes which the field of transitional justice has experienced over time. He offers an examination of its vertical and horizontal expansion. By vertical expansion he means the involvement of international and local actors to a field previously dominated by the state. Horizontal expansion denotes the application of transitional justice to ongoing conflicts, transitions to non-liberal regimes and established democracies. The chapter also proposes a framework for approaching the different types of transitions.
Other contributions offer novel theoretical frameworks for specific aspects of transitional justice. Thus, Lisa Laplante (Chapter 3) proposes a theory of reparations. She places reparation programmes on what she calls a justice continuum which moves from a narrower to a broader conception of justice. In this spectrum she arranges, from the narrowest to the broadest, reparative justice, restorative justice, civic justice and socioeconomic justice. Jelena Subotić's contribution (Chapter 6) seeks to theorise compliance with transitional justice measures. She analyses the interaction of international pressure over human rights abuses with local compliance. The chapter examines different types of international pressure and how local actors respond to them. Finally, Magdalena Zolkos (Chapter 8) focuses on the concept of trauma and how it is understood in transitional justice discourse. She problematises what she sees as the clinical conception of trauma which is equated with post-traumatic stress disorder. In contrast, she suggests a cultural reading of trauma as a breakdown of historical meanings and of the impossibility of narrating individual suffering.
The remaining chapters in the book apply theoretical insights of other disciplines to transitional justice. Nevin Aiken (Chapter 2) does so with social learning theory. He argues that in order to contribute to reconciliation, transitional justice interventions have to facilitate processes of social learning between former enemies. This involves three categories of social learning which transitional justice has to channel: instrumental learning (bringing groups together), socioemotional learning (accountability and truth recovery) and distributive learning (improving structural conditions). Drawing from Rawls’ liberalism, Kora Andrieu (Chapter 4) claims that although transitional justice interventions aim for liberal democracy, there are a number of contradictions between them and their liberal end. According to her, the emphasis on social and narrative conceptions of the self in transitional justice is at odds with Rawls’ disembodied individual. As an alternative, she suggests making transitional justice more dialogical and liberalism more concentrated on capabilities. In their contribution, María Carolina Olarte and Hannah Franski (Chapter 10) make a critique of transitional justice based on Robert Cox's distinction between problem-solving and critical theory. They number transitional justice among the former because it does not question its assumptions; namely, the separation between the political and economic spheres, and considering liberal democracy as a neutral and universal good. They conclude that because transitional justice has not challenged these assumptions, it has supported neoliberal globalisation.
The last two chapters apply existing theories to specific areas of transitional justice. Susanne Buckley-Zistel (Chapter 7) uses narrative theory to examine the kind of truth that emerges from truth-finding mechanisms. She demonstrates that, rather than unveiling an existing truth, the process and product of truth commissions construct a certain narrative truth. This is due to the particular plot that truth commissions, as institutions, have embedded. Finally, Teresa Koloma Beck (Chapter 9) complements the concept of memory as understood in transitional justice with the insights of the theory of body memory. She distinguishes between memory of the mind (representational), which is at the centre of transitional justice, and body memory, which is embodied in the habitual behaviour of individuals and cannot be articulated. She concludes that discursive transitional justice mechanisms (trials and truth commissions) are not equipped to deal with everyday violence which is recorded in body memory and cannot be verbally expressed.
The individual contributions of this volume are a useful gauge of current theoretical trends in transitional justice. They signal interest in transitional justice as a whole as well as on specific mechanisms; on systematising the field as well as on borrowing theories from other disciplines. In this way, this book also underscores the breath of transitional justice. The authors approach transitional justice from different perspectives and drawing from a wide range of theoretical traditions. Liberalism, narrative, social learning and critical theories; they all participate in the debate of transitional justice. It is important to note that, in spite of the diversity of the contributions, they share one commonality. Every chapter emphasises that the socioeconomic dimension should be incorporated into the remit of transitional justice. In different degrees and from distinct angles, the authors in this volume seem to agree that transitional justice should broaden its object from violations of civil and political rights, to more structural patterns of socioeconomic violence and inequality. From this point of view, transitional justice should engage with the wider circumstances of conflict beyond physical violence. This common concern with socioeconomic issues could also indicate a trend in that direction in the wider discourse of transitional justice.
As a collection, this book presents a comprehensive ensemble of theoretical approaches to transitional justice. It covers a lot of ground in terms of theories applied and aspects of transitional justice discussed. The book also presents contributions from scholars which seek to push the boundaries of transitional justice by being critical and asking difficult questions. This kind of research is fundamental for ensuring that the discipline continues to grapple with the political, legal, historical and theoretical difficulties of post-conflict justice. Although the book is titled Transitional Justice Theories, there are not many chapters that develop a systematic theory of transitional justice. Only Lambourne, Aiken and Hansen offer such an endeavour. Therefore, the title is somewhat of a misnomer. This book is more a valuable collection of theoretical engagements with transitional justice, than of transitional justice theories as such.
Regarding the volume's structure, the division between chapters theorising transitional justice and those with a critical approach is not clear cut. All chapters develop theoretical ideas and present varying degrees of critique. In this sense, perhaps it would have been better to introduce a different structure to the collection. Moreover, while the introduction provides a substantial bridge to the contributions, it would have been interesting to have a conclusion drawing all the themes discussed in the different chapters together. Nevertheless, the breadth of the contributions and the variety of approaches make Transitional Justice Theories a thought-provoking book and an important resource for those interested in the theoretical aspect of transitional justice.
