Module overview
'Transitional Justice' explores how societies emerging from periods of civil conflict or authoritarian rule deal with the past.; in particular, how justice can be achieved in such situations. The module considers the impact of transitional justice mechanisms, legal and non-legal, developed with the aim of realizing peace and security in post-conflict states.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- relating the concept of transitional justice to other peace-building activities and explain the role of transitional justice mechanisms in peace-building contexts;
- identifying transitional justice mechanisms and processes through practical case examples and broad theories;
- identifying key challenges and best practices within transitional justice.
- explaining the rationales underpinning the various responses of the international community towards post- conflict transition of domestic communities;
- explaining the development of transitional justice principles from international law and the role of transitional justice mechanisms as complementary to international criminal justice;
- identifying the different theories underlying transitional justice;
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- demonstrate practical awareness of key challenges and best principles by developing a model of transitional justice for a country of your choice.
- demonstrate critical awareness of the relationships between transitional justice principles and mechanisms and international law and international criminal justice;
- analyse the fundamental claims and concepts of key theoretical perspectives on transitional justice;
- 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;
- evaluate various transitional justice mechanisms in relation to other peace-building activities;
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;
- exercise initiative and responsibility to conduct a piece of independent research.
- identify and summarise different types and forms of argument;
- deploy analytic and evaluative skills in relation to complex situations to construct a coherent and reasoned argument, orally and in writing;
Syllabus
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
Learning and Teaching
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
Type | Hours |
---|---|
Wider reading or practice | 10 |
Tutorial | 4 |
Preparation for scheduled sessions | 66 |
Seminar | 20 |
Completion of assessment task | 50 |
Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
C. L. Sriram, O. Martin-Ortega and J Herman (2010). War, Conflict and Human Rights: Theory and Practice. Abingdon: Routledge.
G. Simpson (2007). Law, War and Crime. Cambridge: Polity Press.
S. Totten and P. R. Bartrop (eds.) (2009). The Genocide Studies Reader. Abingdon: Routledge.
E. Barkan and A. Karn (2006). Taking Wrongs Seriously: Apologies and Reconciliation. Stanford: Stanford 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.
N. Roht-Arriaza and J. Marriezcurrena (eds.) (2006). Transitional Justice in the Twenty-first Century: Beyond Truth versus Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
W. A. Schabas (2009). Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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.
R. Teitel (2000). Transitional Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Assessment
Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
Portfolio
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback: Written feedback and peer review of individual draft portfolio contributions during seminar discussions.
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: No
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Portfolio | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Portfolio | 100% |
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.
Method | Percentage contribution |
---|---|
Portfolio | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External