Hybrid Anti-Impunity Commissions and the Rule of Law

Abstract

This chapter analyses a novel type of hybrid governance arrangement, namely hybrid anti-impunity commissions, which involve both external and domestic actors in the exercise of public functions. The present study examines how the new hybrids’ entanglement in a web of inter-organizational relations shapes their impact on the rule of law, as the new hybrids interact with players at the domestic, regional and global levels. In this multilevel interaction, support from three actors in particular enables the hybrid to carry out its mandate successfully; namely, civil society organizations, powerful donor states and the Attorney-General’s office. The interplay of these factors will determine if changes initiated by the hybrid will lead to a deeper cultural transformation in the host state. If no such culture of lawfulness is consolidated, it is very likely that, after the hybrid’s departure, a relapse into the bad old habits of impunity will occur.