Just security or a secure justice?: mapping the transitional justice-human security nexus
Date
2014
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
This dissertation studies the relationship between transitional justice and human security. Examples of transitional justice include truth commissions, special prosecutions, amnesties, lustration policies, security sector and judicial reforms, as well as memorial and memory projects. Human security refers to the critical (severe) and pervasive (widespread) human threats and situations that could destabilize a state and society. Because I argue that, ultimately, the security of justice is predicated on the actualization of human security, this dissertation examines the extent to which human security - as a claim to justice - is advanced by the implementation of transitional justice mechanisms. Understanding how transitional justice informs human security practices may lead scholars and practitioners to reflect on the widespread assumption that security must be first in place in order for justice to be enacted. My research question problematizes that very assumption and investigates if and how the practice of justice is used to further the work of human security advocates and their agendas. I explore this impact on the three subfields of human security: safety of peoples, development, and rule of law/human rights. Chapter 3 explores the relationship between transitional justice and the safety of peoples by examining the displacement crisis in Colombia. Chapter 4 discusses how transitional justice relates to development by studying the impact of international courts on reparations programs in Guatemala and Uganda. Chapter 5 addresses the impact of transitional justice on rule of law/human rights by discussing the successes and failures of transitional justice in reforming the state to establish the rule of law in Kenya and Peru. In each of these substantive chapters I explore the conceptual and empirical connections between transitional justice and human security by introducing specific analytical frameworks to organize the evidence. My analysis reveals that, unfortunately, the empirical impact of transitional justice on human security initiatives is rather tenuous despite their strong conceptual connections. There is little coordinated effort between transitional justice and human security epistemic communities, despite the fact that victim testimony and claims to justice are often framed around the human insecurities people face in their daily lives. While many countries are adopting TJ mechanisms, these mechanisms rarely take into account persistent human insecurities that could undermine their ultimate goals to prevent the repeat of a violent and authoritarian past and restore the dignity and rights of individuals.
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Keywords
Transitional justice, Latin America, International Criminal Court, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Human security, Human rights