Transitional Justice: Law, War and Crime

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• demonstrate critical awareness of the relationships between transitional justice principles and mechanisms and international law and international criminal justice;
• evaluate various transitional justice mechanisms in relation to other peace-building activities;
• analyse the fundamental claims and concepts of key theoretical perspectives on transitional justice;
• demonstrate practical awareness of key challenges and best principles by developing a model of transitional justice for a country of your choice.
• critically evaluate various transitional justice mechanisms and the ways in which these have been implemented, nationally and internationally, in light of stated objectives of truth, reconciliation and justice;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• locate and analyse relevant primary and secondary resources, together with relevant historical, philosophical and political materials;
• deploy analytic and evaluative skills in relation to complex situations to construct a coherent and reasoned argument, orally and in writing;
• exercise initiative and responsibility to conduct a piece of independent research.
• identify and summarise different types and forms of argument;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• identifying key challenges and best practices within transitional justice.
• relating the concept of transitional justice to other peace-building activities and explain the role of transitional justice mechanisms in peace-building contexts;
• explaining the development of transitional justice principles from international law and the role of transitional justice mechanisms as complementary to international criminal justice;
• identifying transitional justice mechanisms and processes through practical case examples and broad theories;
• identifying the different theories underlying transitional justice;
• explaining the rationales underpinning the various responses of the international community towards post- conflict transition of domestic communities;

The topics covered in the module will include:

• historical and legal background
• causes and consequences of conflict
• war and human rights
• international humanitarian law and armed conflict
• theoretical perspectives: concepts and dilemmas
• origins and development of 'transitional justice'
• individual responsibility vs collective guilt
• memory, narrative and identity
• restorative vs retributive justice
• juridification of war
• gendering of war
• genocide
• approaches, mechanisms and institutions
• truth commissions
• prosecutions
• reparations
• ad hoc tribunals
• hybrid tribunals
• International Criminal Court
• war crimes trials and political trials
• show trials
• case studies and case histories; for example,
• South Africa
• Rwanda
• Sierra Leone
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Ethiopia
• Sudan
• Northern Ireland
• Australia
• Former Republic of Yugoslavia
• 9/11 and its aftermath: the 'global war on terror'
• transitional justice, peace-building and peace-keeping
• the role of the United Nations and the UN Secretary-General
• security and development
• other agencies
• trends, challenges and opportunities
• justice vs peace
• pursuit of accountability
• human rights and humanitarian law obligations

Teaching and learning methods

The module is taught by means of a weekly 2-hour seminar/lecture and four 1-hour feedback tutorials. You will be expected to have read/watched all materials/media assigned for a particular class and, where appropriate, to take a full part in discussions about them.

Preparation for and participation in the seminars and tutorials will develop:

• the knowledge required to satisfactorily achieve the stated module learning outcomes
• your ability to challenge widely held assumptions about law and legal decision making and how these impact on legal practice;
• your ability to assess and comment critically on the effectiveness of others’ legal argument and to discuss and defend your own argument;
• your ability to engage effectively with key legal and socio-legal research skills
• your organisational and time management skills

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

E. Stover and H. M. Weinstein (eds.) (2004). My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

P. B. Hayner (2001). Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity: How Truth Commissions Around the World are Challenging the Past and Shaping the Future. New York: Routledge.

C. L. Sriram, O. Martin-Ortega and J Herman (2010). War, Conflict and Human Rights: Theory and Practice. Abingdon: Routledge.

E. Barkan and A. Karn (2006). Taking Wrongs Seriously: Apologies and Reconciliation. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

R. Teitel (2000). Transitional Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

N. Roht-Arriaza and J. Marriezcurrena (eds.) (2006). Transitional Justice in the Twenty-first Century: Beyond Truth versus Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

G. Simpson (2007). Law, War and Crime. Cambridge: Polity Press.

W. A. Schabas (2009). Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

S. Totten and P. R. Bartrop (eds.) (2009). The Genocide Studies Reader. Abingdon: Routledge.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External