Transitional Justice Genealogy

This chapter proposes a genealogy of transitional justice. Transitional justice is the conception of justice associated with periods of political change, characterized by legal responses to confront the wrongdoings of repressive predecessor regimes. The chapter traces the historical pursuit of justice in periods of political flux, reviewing the political developments of the last half-century and analyzing the evolution of the conception of transitional justice. It contends that a genealogy of transitional justice demonstrates, over time, a close relationship between the type of justice pursued and the relevant limiting political conditions. The chapter describes the phases, and then elaborates upon each phase as well as upon the critical dynamic interrelationships of the three phases within the genealogy. It presents that the notion of genealogy is structured along the lines of and situated within an intellectual history. Accordingly, the genealogy is organized along a schematic of the development of ideas associated with the three phases of transitional justice.