The desire for justice, psychic reparation and the politics of memory in ‘post-conflict’ Northern Ireland

Abstract

The expression ‘desire for justice’ is commonly used to describe the demand for redress made by victims of violence within ‘post-conflict’ transition. This article addresses the subjective and psychic aspects of this desire for justice, as these articulate with the politics of memory, discourses of victimhood, and questions of recognition, reparation and reconciliation in the Northern Ireland peace process. It explores how psychic and emotional currents percolate into public discourse and politics, and how the traumatic effects of past violence affect the emotional dynamics of victims' involvement in truth and justice issues, in the context of devolved government and the controversies surrounding the work of the Eames–Bradley Consultative Group on the Past. The first part of the article develops a case study of one grass-roots organisation campaigning on behalf of victims of ‘terrorist violence’ during the Troubles, West Tyrone Voice (WTV). By examining the discourse of justice in WTV's public statements, and in interviews with members, it explores what justice means for the group and individuals in it, how others are represented in relation to this and how the emotional structure of WTV discourse shapes its responses to the British Government's reconciliation agenda. In the second part, the article reflects on this case study in the light of theories about the meaning of justice, its psychic roots and dynamics, developed within object-relations psychoanalysis. Emphasising the reciprocal effects of object relations in the internal world and the experience of social relations with external others, these theories suggest the emotional basis of a practice of historical justice based on mutuality and reparation. They also enable insight into the emotional dynamics at work in the continuing war over memory in Northern Ireland, centred on conflicting ideas about justice and how to achieve it.