Dilemmas of Expanding Transitional Justice, or Forging the Nexus between Transitional Justice and Development

TLDR: The International Journal of Transitional Justice (IJTJ) has published a special issue on the nexus between transitional justice and development as mentioned in this paper, which explores four areas of inquiry that scholars, advocates and practitioners of both transitional justice, and development must consider if either field is to achieve its intended goals.

Abstract: ∗It is timely that in just its second year of publication, the International Journal of Transitional Justice (IJTJ) has chosen to focus this special issue on the nexus between transitional justice and development. This is an indication of the salience of the issues of development generally and social justice specifically to the process of seeking transitional justice in societies moving out of conflict or other forms of crisis and repression. The number of articles received for consideration in this special issue and the range of seminal topics they raise serve to underline the pressing need to consider concerns of development and social justice as experienced and expressed by both scholars and practitioners. In introducing this special issue, I want to highlight four areas of inquiry that scholars, advocates and practitioners of both transitional justice and development must consider if either field is to achieve its intended goals. The articles in this issue explore many of these four areas in greater depth, with potent illustrative examples that draw on a range of cases, as outlined below. Thefirstthornyquestionis:Cantransitionaljustice(TJ)todayaffordnottoconcern itself directly with social injustice and patterns of inequality, discrimination and marginalization that were underlying causes of a conflict and that inflicted major suffering and victimization on vast swathes of a population? How can (or should) TJ have a more direct impact on reducing social and economic inequality? Second, should TJ measures cost less and deliver more? For impoverished countries, TJ often represents a costly luxury in a highly resource-constrained environment where all aspects of social, economic and political life need to be rebuilt and development is a priority. In this context, TJ often comes to represent a trade-off of sorts between justice or development, rather than promoting development with justice. Third, should TJ concern itself directly with war economies and corruption, particularly the exploitation of natural and mineral resources, as these are often perpetrated by the same war criminals ‐ and with the same abusive, violent and exploitative means and devastating effect on victims ‐ as the war crimes that historically fall within the purview of TJ?