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The global diffusion of truth commissions: an integrative approach to diffusion as a process of collective learning

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Abstract

The diffusion of similar organizational practices across the world has been a prominent research topic for quite some time. In the literature on sociological new institutionalism, two basic research perspectives have developed to address the diffusion and subsequent institutionalization of cultural models and formally organized practices. The first argues that diffusion happens as a top-down adoption process. The second describes diffusion and institutionalization as bottom-up emergence. My stance bridges both perspectives. In this article, I argue that for us to understand diffusion processes, emergence and adoption need to be integrated within a coherent theoretical framework, as both of these processes are inseparably interlinked. The global diffusion of truth commissions is employed as a case study to develop this framework. Starting with the empirical observation of the global diffusion of truth commissions, I dissect the case study by asking: How did truth commissions emerge and become adopted as a globally recognized solution to the problem of dealing with human rights violations after political transitions? To answer this question, I introduce three theoretical building blocks—reciprocal typification, narrative embedding, and fictional consensus. Taken together, these concepts constitute the process of collective learning, which I present here as a new approach to diffusion.

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Notes

  1. The latest example for the ongoing establishment of new truth commissions is the Comisión por Verdad y Justicia (Commission for Truth and Justice) that is being created in Uruguay (see http://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/vazquez-presento-comision-justicia.html) (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  2. A first extensive bibliography on literature about the TRC was already published by Alexander et al. in 2004/2005, after which publications continued to increase considerably.

  3. The commission was created by the Decreto Supremo No. 19241 of October 28, 1981.

  4. See the Annex of the Mexico Peace Agreements from April 27, 1991, in: Kritz (1995b), pp. 174–176.

  5. See United Nations Document A/46/502/Add.1 of October 7, 1991.

  6. This foundation was renamed Foundation for a Civil Society in 1992.

  7. This organization has been recently renamed as “Beyond conflict”, see http://www.beyondconflictint.org/initiatives/ (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  8. https://www.ictj.org/about/transitional-justice (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  9. http://www.ictj.org/sites/default/files/ICTJ-Global-Transitional-Justice-2009-English.pdf (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  10. See United Nations Document A/51/306/Add.1, 9 September 1996, p. 30.

  11. Ibid.

  12. This draft was adopted by the UN General Assembly as the “Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance” through Resolution 47/133 in December 1992.

  13. See United Nations Document E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/20/Rev.1: 2.

  14. See United Nations Document E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1.

  15. See United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2006. Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States. Truth Commissions; available online: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/RuleoflawTruthCommissionsen.pdf (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  16. Ibid., Foreword.

  17. In 2011, Brazil, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Truth_Commission (last accessed: 11/1/2015), and the Ivory Coast, https://www.ictj.org/our-work/regions-and-countries/cote-divoire (last accessed: 11/1/2015); in 2014 Burundi, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-burundi-politics-idUSBREA3H0E020140418 (last accessed: 11/1/2015); and in 2015 Uruguay, http://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/vazquez-presento-comision-justicia.html (last accessed: 11/1/2015) also established truth commissions that are not yet mentioned in any of the databases.

  18. See https://www.ictj.org/our-work/regions-and-countries/cote-divoire (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  19. See http://allafrica.com/stories/201412050134.html (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  20. See http://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/vazquez-presento-comision-justicia.html (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  21. In South Korea, different sources even count three truth commissions in total.

  22. See http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=4 (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  23. See http://www.greensborotrc.org/truth_reconciliation.php (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  24. See “Lawmakers Debate Establishing ‘Truth Commission’ on Bush Admin Torture, Rendition and Domestic Spying,” http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/5/lawmakers_begin_debate_on_commission (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  25. See http://www.changecyclingnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Charter-of-the-Willing.pdf (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

  26. See International Center for Transitional Justice (2012). Strengthening Indigenous Rights through Truth Commissions: A Practitioner’s Resource. http://ictj.org/sites/default/files/ICTJ-Truth-Seeking-Indigenous-Rights-2012-English.pdf (last accessed: 11/1/2015).

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Sören Carlson, Klaus Eder, Bernhard Forchtner, Raimundo Frei, Katja Hericks, Stefan Kirchner, Frank Meier, Manfred Stock, Theresa Wobbe, and the DFG-Network on New Institutionalism for thought-provoking discussions and illuminating insights, as well as the reviewers and the Editors of Theory and Society for their helpful and constructive comments.

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  1. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Institute of Social Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, D-10099, Berlin, Germany

    Anne K. Krueger

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Table 1 Truth commissions from 1974 until 2011 (according to different sources)
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Krueger, A.K. The global diffusion of truth commissions: an integrative approach to diffusion as a process of collective learning. Theor Soc 45, 143–168 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-016-9267-x

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