Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies, ed. Joanna R. Quinn. Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences, ed. Luc Huyse and Mark Salter

Abstract

In recent years, the focus of transitional justice scholarship has started to shift from institutions and processes towards questions of outcomes and impact. Early discussions in this field centred on concepts such as truth and justice, which were often treated as ends in themselves. In reality, however, those concepts were usually means to other ends, for example, pursuing truth and justice because they might, variously, deter future crimes, eradicate the culture of impunity, counter historical denial or help rebuild fractured individual and communal relations. Reconciliation(s): Transitional Justice in Postconflict Societies , edited by Joanna Quinn, and Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences , edited by Luc Huyse and Mark Salter, continue this current interest in the ultimate aims of transitional justice. In particular, they focus on two such objectives: healing and reconciliation. The two books share some important premises and methods and formulate some similar arguments. A core idea in both volumes is that, in considering how best to address conflict and postconflict situations, there are no available templates or one-size-fits-all approaches. There may be some general principles derived from international experiences, but locality and nuance are everything. This starting point leads both books to explore the role of local, ‘traditional’ or customary justice in transitional settings; Traditional Justice and Reconciliation focuses exclusively on this theme, while Reconciliation(s) devotes four of 13 chapters to it.