Civil society and transitional justice: an actor-based explanation of transitional justice outcomes in Peru, Chile and Tunisia

Abstract

Transitional justice is a process that accounts for past human rights abuses through reparatory and retributive measures during political transitions. Achieving a successful transitional justice outcome is important because it makes conflict recurrence and the repetition of gross human rights abuses less likely. Although transitional justice is widely practiced with similar mechanisms around the world, these processes often produce different results. To explain this variation, it may be necessary to analyze the role of actors instead of the mechanisms used. In this research, I argue that domestic civil society is an essential actor of transitional justice for limiting state dominance and achieving success. Through mechanisms of representation, formal and informal legitimacy, and transnational networks, domestic civil society can influence the transitional justice process in a positive direction. Active civil society participation in transitional justice and civil society cohesiveness can make success more likely. Through a comparative case study of transitional justice processes in Peru, Chile and Tunisia, I have found that civil society participation and civil society cohesiveness make the process more comprehensive, inclusive and consistent, and its accomplishments more enduring.