Abstract
Truth commissions are one of the many tools societies may establish following a period of authoritarianism or civil war. As they are increasingly adopted, this book compares the various truth commissions that have been created in the recent past and their ability to impact human rights and violence. This chapter introduces the project and discusses why it is a significant contribution to the literature regarding post-conflict processes, transitional justice, and truth commissions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
I do not examine resources here as data is sparse and difficult to procure, but in future research, I intend to incorporate this important factor.
References
Akhavan, Payam. 2001. Beyond Impunity: Can International Criminal Justice Prevent Future Atrocities? American Journal of International Law 95 (1): 7–31.
Ben-Josef Hirsch, M. 2014. Ideational Change and the Emergence of the International Norm of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. European Journal of International Relations 20 (3): 810–833.
Fariss, Christopher J. 2014. Respect for Human Rights Has Improved Over Time: Modeling the Changing Standard of Accountability. American Political Science Review 108 (2): 297–318.
Freeman, Mark. 2006. Truth Commissions and Procedural Fairness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gibson, James L. 2004. Does Truth Lead to Reconciliation? Testing the Causal Assumptions of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process. American Journal of Political Science 48 (2): 201–217.
———. 2006. The Contributions of Truth to Reconciliation Lessons from South Africa. Journal of Conflict Resolution 50 (3): 409–432.
———. 2009. Group-Conflict Resolution: Sources of Resistance to Reconciliation: On Legitimacy Theory and the Effectiveness of Truth Commissions. Law & Contemporary Problems 72: 123–271.
Grodsky, Brian. 2008. Justice Without Transition: Truth Commissions in the Context of Repressive Rule. Human Rights Review 9 (3): 281–297.
Hayner, P.B. 1994. Fifteen Truth Commissions-1974 to 1994: A Comparative Study. Human Rights Quarterly 16: 597.
———. 2010. Unspeakable Truths: Transitional Justice and the Challenge of Truth Commissions. Didcot: Taylor & Francis.
Kim, Hunjoon, and Kathryn Sikkink. 2007. Do Human Rights Trials Make a Difference. Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.
———. 2010. Explaining the Deterrence Effect of Human Rights Prosecutions for Transitional Countries1. International Studies Quarterly 54 (4): 939–963.
Loyle, C.E. 2018. Transitional Justice and Political Order in Rwanda. Ethnic and Racial Studies 41 (4): 663–680.
Loyle, C.E., and C. Davenport. 2016. Transitional Injustice: Subverting Justice in Transition and Postconflict Societies. Journal of Human Rights 15 (1): 126–149.
Meernik, J. 2003. Victor’s Justice or the Law? Judging and Punishing at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Journal of Conflict Resolution 47 (2): 140–162.
———. 2005. Justice and Peace? How the International Criminal Tribunal Affects Societal Peace in Bosnia. Journal of Peace Research 42 (3): 271–289.
Meernik, James D., Angela D. Nichols, and Kimi L. King. 2010. The Impact of International Tribunals and Domestic Trials on Peace and Human Rights After Civil War. International Studies Perspectives 11 (4): 309–334.
Mendeloff, D. 2004. Truth-Seeking, Truth-Telling, and Postconflict Peacebuilding: Curb the Enthusiasm? 1. International Studies Review 6 (3): 355–380.
Olsen, T.D., L.A. Payne, and A.G. Reiter. 2010a. Transitional Justice in Balance: Comparing Processes, Weighing Efficacy. Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace.
Olsen, Tricia D., Leigh A. Payne, Andrew G. Reiter, and Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm. 2010b. When Truth Commissions Improve Human Rights. International Journal of Transitional Justice 4 (3): 457–476.
Quinn, J.R., and M. Freeman. 2003. Lessons Learned: Practical Lessons Gleaned from Inside the Truth Commissions of Guatemala and South Africa. Human Rights Quarterly 25 (4): 1117–1149.
Roht-Arriaza, N., and J. Mariezcurrena. 2006. Transitional Justice in the Twenty-First Century: Beyond Truth Versus Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scharf, Michael P. 1996. Case for a Permanent International Truth Commission. Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 7: 375–410.
Sikkink, Kathryn. 2011. The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
Sikkink, Kathryn, and Carrie Booth Walling. 2007. The Impact of Human Rights Trials in Latin America. Journal of Peace Research 44 (4): 427–445.
Snyder, Jack, and Leslie Vinjamuri. 2004. Trials and Errors: Principle and Pragmatism in Strategies of International Justice. International Security 28 (3): 5–44.
Stewart, B., and E. Wiebelhaus-Brahm. 2017. The Quantitative Turn in Transitional Justice Research: What Have We Learned About Impact? Transitional Justice Review 1 (5): 97–133.
Taylor, L.K., and A. Dukalskis. 2012. Old Truths and New Politics Does Truth Commission Publicness Impact Democratization? Journal of Peace Research 49 (5): 671–684.
Teitel, R.G. 2000. Transitional Justice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Thoms, O.N.T., J. Ron, and R. Paris. 2010. State-Level Effects of Transitional Justice: What Do We Know? International Journal of Transitional Justice 4 (3): 329–354.
USIP. 2011. Truth Commission Digital Collection. http://www.usip.org/publications/truth-commission-digital-collection.
Van der Merwe, H., V. Baxter, and A.R. Chapman. 2009. Assessing the Impact of Transitional Justice: Challenges for Empirical Research. Washington, DC: United States Institute for Peace (USIP).
Vinjamuri, L., and J. Snyder. 2004. Advocacy and Scholarship in the Study of International War Crime Tribunals and Transitional Justice. Annual Review of Political Science 7: 345–362.
———. 2015. Law and Politics in Transitional Justice. Annual Review of Political Science 18: 303–327.
Wiebelhaus-Brahm, E. 2010. Truth Commissions and Transitional Societies: The Impact on Human Rights and Democracy. Didcot: Taylor and Francis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nichols, A.D. (2019). Introduction. In: Impact, Legitimacy, and Limitations of Truth Commissions. Human Rights Interventions. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11172-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11172-4_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-11171-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11172-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)