Standardisation of Transitional Justice: Consolidation, Innovation and Politics

‘Transitional justice’ (TJ) denotes institutional justice responses to past violence, such as criminal trials, truth commissions, purges, reparations, reform, memorials and amnesty. Implemented in over 116 countries since 1970, TJ has recently been internationally standardised. It is now defined as consisting of four ‘essential’ mechanisms: criminal justice, truth-seeking, reparations and reform (African Union 2019; EU 2015; UN 2009a; 2011). The recent standardisation of TJ is puzzling because it consolidates existing practices, although these have so far been unable to demonstrate a beneficial effect on transitional societies. Indeed, there is ‘an abundance of evidence which scrutinizes [TJ’s] real-world impacts unfavorably’ (Macdonald 2019, 247). Moreover, the standard’s uniform justice responses have paradoxically developed from a heterogeneous field of different transitions and types of injustice. The project responds to these empirical problems by taking the process of TJ standardisation as its object of analysis. Its goal is to understand how, why and by whom TJ has been standardised. It contributes to developing the field of TJ at three levels. Theoretically, the project provides the first study of the politics of TJ standardisation and the relationship between consolidation and innovation in standardised TJ. Empirically, it analyses standard setting and the implementation and negotiation of the standard in three sites. This new knowledge provides scholars with a foundation for critical analysis of TJ policies and practices and enables practitioners globally to reflect on its relevance for them. These reflections will open up a space for formulating alternatives to standardised TJ, potentially leading to better programmes and beneficial societal impact.