Transitional Justice in Societies Emerging from Intractable Conflicts: Between the Right to Truth and Collective Memory

Abstract

Recent advances in social psychology, focusing on the unique psychological repertoire of societies which are sides to an intractable conflict, can offer a roadmap of the challenges facing attempts to transform societies which have endured a prolonged period of massive violence. However, the recent development of transitional justice, a legal-led approach to conflict resolution, did not rely on extensive social psychology knowledge regarding intractable conflicts. Transitional justice was adopted in recent decades in numerous national processes of transition aiming to ensure the non-recurrence of violence, promotion rule of law, and other democratic values following a totalitarian regime or an intractable conflict. Consisting of a multitude of processes and mechanisms and supported by the United Nations as the primary approach to dealing with legacies of mass human rights violations, transitional justice does aim to reflect intricate social circumstances and promote socially sensitive solutions. Yet, the growing support for transitional justice as an approach to past injustices and social reconstruction has also promoted internationally uniform standards to transitional justice, which thereby limit its ability to create socially specific solutions.