‘Living Well is the Best Revenge’—If one can: An Invitation to the Creation of Justice off the Beaten Path

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis review essay has two main goals: one, to elaborate on connections within the contribution under review, and secondly to critically evaluate that contribution to the field of transitional justice.Transitional Justice and the Rule of Law in New Democracies lacks an introduction or a conclusion. This essay seeks to fill in that gap by providing a road map that tells us where the chapters in the book under review will take us as well as providing concluding remarks that draw the various chapters together. Further, this essay evaluates how each of the country studies lives up to the ideals set forth in the first chapter. The essay situates the book under review within the larger fields of justice and transitional studies. This approach is designed to help assess the work's contribution to the larger fields as well as to provide a greater understanding of the work's contribution to the specific sub-field that it addresses. In addition to analysing the country studies in terms of the theoretical chapter that begins the collection, the theoretical standards are analysed both in terms of the country studies and in terms of the broader concerns of transitional justice. Finally, the essay challenges these theoretical standards by drawing attention to justice ‘off the beaten path’, ie to the special context and challenges that face states/societies in transition. Here it is argued that not only are the set standards potentially inappropriate to this context but further, that justice requires more than these standards would imply.