Abstract
Abstract This article analyses complexities of time in transitional justice (tj) and categorises the temporal dichotomies of tj processes as timeboundness/timelessness and linearity/circularity, challenging the dominant linear conception of time in the field. Criminal justice, as the most dominant tj pillar, is seen as timebound, battling with the passage of time to avoid justice being denied or delayed. By its procedural nature, criminal justice is less capable of addressing any circularity or repetition of violence but rather treats acts of violence as ruptures in linear time. Field research in Bosnia and Herzegovina shows that the less conventional tj processes of education and memorialisation are often given the normative content of timelessness and utilised for their capacity to capture some of the repetition of harm. In addition to establishing these distinct temporal regimes and noting any conflicts between them, the article seeks to reconcile them by repositioning criminal justice within tj as a factual and legitimating foundation for education and memorialisation.
Highlights
The common conceptualisation of ‘transition’ in transitional justice suggests linearity of time across three definite points: the past, the present, and the future
Field research in Bosnia and Herzegovina shows that the less conventional tj processes of education and memorialisation are often given the normative content of timelessness and utilised for their capacity to capture some of the repetition of harm
Via free access davidović regimes of time-boundness/timelessness and linearity/circularity can be reconciled in practice and what implications this has for the limitations of criminal justice, memorialisation and education
Summary
The common conceptualisation of ‘transition’ in transitional justice (tj) suggests linearity of time across three definite points: the past, the present, and the future. This article builds on these establishments of multiple temporalities and temporal conflicts in transitional justice by examining temporal dichotomies of time-boundness/timelessness and linearity/circularity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). An analysis of these temporal dichotomies together allows this article to investigate multiple temporalities as contingent on one’s relation towards the past as well as the future and understandings of time in relation to violence and justice It helps identify certain ‘grey areas’ among and across temporal regimes, showing how temporal limitations of criminal justice, education, and memorialisation, respectively, can be ameliorated through temporal regimes’ interactions in practice. These promises warrant a brief note on methodology Both the establishing of temporal dualisms and their reconciliation are informed by field research in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country that ‘exemplifies contemporary transitional justice’ with its multiple contemporary practices, many of which have already completed their mandates.[17] With respect to criminal justice, this article focuses on criminal trials as ‘the icon of the rule of law’.18.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
