The South African Truth Commission

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Kenneth Christie

   Pages 1-8

3. A Brief History of Apartheid: Contentious Histories

   • Kenneth Christie

   Pages 9-35

4. Comparing Truth Commissions

   • Kenneth Christie

   Pages 36-64

5. Negotiating the Truth in Times of Transition

   • Kenneth Christie

   Pages 65-93

6. The Role of the TRC in Nation Building

   • Kenneth Christie

   Pages 94-119

7. The Question of Amnesty and Justice

   • Kenneth Christie

   Pages 120-141

8. Towards Reconciliation or Deepening the Wounds?

   • Kenneth Christie

   Pages 142-172

9. The Truth Commission: Memory and Change

   • Kenneth Christie

   Pages 173-187

10. Back Matter

    Pages 188-215

    PDF

Over the last thirty years, many political transitions from authoritarian regimes and dictatorial political systems have been accompanied by Truth Commissions. Since 1974 there have been over twenty of these Commissions established in countries as diverse as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, the Philippines and Germany, among others. Perhaps the most important Truth Commission of our time is the South African one which also seeks to act as a mechanism for reconciliation in a divided society. The South African conflict was extremely long and violent; its victims suffered traumatic experiences and, in part, one of the Commission's functions is to allow their story to be told. This book tries to examine the Truth Commission here and the issues that surround it, assessing different versions of the South African past and the complex negotiations leading to the establishment of the Commission and the complex politics of amnesty, justice and nation-building.

• conflict
• Germany
• politics

• Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Norway

  Kenneth Christie

KENNETH CHRISTIE is Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, Norway. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Oxford, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies, Copenhagen. His published works include Political Protest in Northern Ireland, Problems in European Politics and he is editor of Ethnic Conflict, Tribal Politics: A Global Perspective.

Policies and ethics