Transitional Justice and the Public Sphere

Transparency is a fundamental principle of justice. A cornerstone of the rule of law, it allows for public engagement and for democratic control of the decisions and actions of both the judiciary and the justice authorities. This book looks at the question of transparency within the framework of transitional justice. Bringing together scholars from across the disciplinary spectrum, the collection analyses the issue from socio-legal, cultural studies and practitioner perspectives. Taking a three-part approach, it firstly discusses basic principles guiding justice globally before exploring courts and how they make justice visible. Finally, the collection reviews the interface between law, transitional justice institutions and the public sphere.

1. Introduction: The Rational and the Emotional: Issues of Transparency and Legitimacy in Transitional Justice
Chrisje Brants and Susanne Karstedt

Part I: Transitional Justice and its Public Spheres: Principles of Justice
2. Justice as the Art of Muddling through: The Importance of Nyaya in the Aftermath of International Crimes
Antony Pemberton and Rianne Letschert
3. Emotional Discourse in a Rational Public Sphere: The Victim and the International Criminal Trial
Chrisje Brants
4. Credible Justice and Incredible Crimes
Susanne Karstedt
5. Globalisation, Crime and Governance: Transparency, Accountability and Participation as Principles for Global Criminal Law
Paul De Hert

Part II: Justice Seen to Be Done: Courts and the Public
6. International Judicial Institutions: (Re)Defining 'Public' Proceedings?
Olga Kavran
7. The Contestation of Complementarity in Uganda: The Case of Thomas Kwoyelo
Lauren Gould
8. Discursive Proceedings and the Transitional Trial: A View from the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
Cheryl White
9. Unmet Expectations and the Legitimacy of Transitional Justice Institutions: The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
Ray Nickson

Part III: Beyond the Courts: Creating Public Spheres of Testimony
10. Witness Testimony and the Incommensurability of Truth in Argentina
Antonius CGM Robben
11. Faces of Truth: Journalism, Justice and War
Kees Brants and Chrisje Brants
12. Memory Laws: Regulating Memory and the Policing of Acknowledgement and Denial
Marloes van Noorloos
13. Challenges to the Movement to Exhume the Missing Victims of the Spanish Civil War and Francoist Dictatorship
Natalia Maystorovich Chulio
14. Portraits of the Dead and the Living: Bosnia and Rwanda 20 Years on
Olivera Simic

“... the multitude of perspectives and experiences that scholars and practitioners brought to this book make is outstanding. Legal scholars of criminal law and procedure, criminologists, political scientists, anthropologists, victimologists, communications specialists – they all add to this book their unique perspectives, emphasising once again that transitional justice is an interdisciplinary field.” –  Iva Vukusic, Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University, International Criminal Law Review