Alana Tiemessen, PhD
Email: atiemessen@uchicago.edu
Twitter: @alanatiemessen
Office Hours:
Pick 123 T/Th 11-12pm or by appointment
Course Outline
This course addresses the major theoretical debates and empirical trends in accountability for atrocities and human rights violations and the political dynamics inherent in both international and domestic justice institutions. Course topics are divided into three sections: first, an overview of the history, concept and field of transitional justice; second, the global governance of accountability with respect to international tribunals, the International Criminal Court, and the peace versus justice dichotomy; and third, local processes that seek to affect restoration and reconciliation in addition to accountability, such as truth commissions, “grassroots” justice, and memorialization. The case studies addressed in this course are global in scope but there is a sustained focus on Africa. This is a seminar class that is open to graduate students only.
Course Material
There is a significant amount of reading assigned for this seminar. You are expected to complete the assigned reading prior to the relevant class and be prepared to discuss their major themes, debates, and empirical details. The assigned material is available online either through our course page on Chalk or direct web links.
Participation
Response Essay x 3
25%
60%
Assignments and Evaluation
Presentation 15%
OR Response Essay x 1 20%
Research Essay 40%
Participation
Student participation is a significant part of this graduate seminar. Participation grades will be determined by attendance and oral participation in class. The following are general guidelines and evaluation criteria:
(A) Exceptional contribution, characterized by being an outstanding participant in class both in terms of the quality and quantity of participation. The student’s participation helps to generate more and better discussion within the class. Peers and the instructor learned a great deal, gained insights, and responded well to students’ comments. The student’s comments are highly relevant to course topics and assigned material and show a thorough understanding of current events related to these topics.
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(B) Good to average contribution, characterized by meaningful involvement that added to the process. He or she participated consistently but not frequently compared to classmates. The student showed willingness and understanding during the discussion. Comments or questions were somewhat linked to the readings and class questions.
(C) Marginal and infrequent contribution, characterized by minor involvement that added little to the discussion. The student’s knowledge of the reading could be inferred but was not directly stated.
(D-F) Insignificant contribution, characterized by student’s failure to display interest or make relevant comments. The student listened but not intently and did not utilize reading material when making comments. Student was often physically or mentally absent from class discussion.
Presentation
You are required to give one 12-15 minute presentation on one topic during class. The presentation should take the same approach as the response essays by discussing a key debate or theme in the assigned reading for one topic. The purpose of the presentation is to a) give you an opportunity to develop your presentation skills for an academic audience b) call attention to themes and debates in the material and c) guide and structure class discussion. In addition to presenting your analysis, you are expected to pose a few questions that the class can later take up in discussion.
Response Essay (x 1-3)
Response essays (6 pages double-spaced) are a critical reflection and synthesis of a key debate or theme in the assigned readings for one topic. (You can choose any topic, except for the first and last ones.) Do not summarize the readings, but rather focus on a specific point of contention or commonality that connects the readings in a way that is analytically logical. You may present a specific argument in response to a debate, but ensure that it is supported with only the assigned material. This is not a research essay and you are not permitted nor expected to do additional research. The essay is due in hard copy and in class on the same day the topic is scheduled on the syllabus. You may not write a response essay for the same topic as your presentation.
You have the option to do three response essays that are each worth 20% of your final grade.
Alternatively, you can do one response essay worth 20% of your grade and a research essay worth 40% of your grade.
Research Essay
If you choose to do the research essay (12-13 pages double spaced) it will be due on March
19 th . You must consult with me on your topic prior to February 19 th . The essay must focus on a topic related to the course and address a specific theoretical debate and case study, however, some flexibility will be permitted to accommodate individual research interests. More details on the essay requirements and criteria for evaluation will be distributed separately.
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Course Schedule and Assigned Readings
THE CONCEPT AND FIELD OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE
I. CRIME AND IMPUNITY (Jan 8)
Akhavan, Payam. “A Hierarchy of International Crimes” in Reducing Genocide to Law: Definition,
Meaning, and the Ultimate Crime. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012: 56-87.
Leebaw, Bronwyn. “Human Rights Legalism and the Legacy of Nuremberg” in Judging State-
Sponsored Violence, Imagining Political Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011:
31-57.
Orentichler, Diane. "'Settling Accounts' Revisited: Reconciling Global Norms with Local Agency" in The International Journal of Transitional Justice. Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 10-22.
Recommended Reading
Shklar, Judith. Legalism. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1964.
Drumbl, Mark A. Atrocity, Punishment and International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2007.
Heller, Kevin Jon. The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
II. JUSTICE IN TRANSITIONS (Jan 15)
United Nations Security Council. Report of the Secretary-General: The Rule of Law and
Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies. United Nations S/2004/616, 23 August, 2004: 1-24. http://www.ipu.org/splz-e/unga07/law.pdf: Sections I-IV (para 1-10); Sections XI-XVI (para 34-
55).
Sikkink, Kathryn. “Introduction” in The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Are
Changing World Politics. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc (2011): 1-28.
Leebaw. Bronwyn. “Introduction: Transitional Justice and the Gray Zone” in Judging State-
Sponsored Violence, Imagining Political Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011:
1-30.
Leebaw, Bronwyn Anne. "The Irreconcilable Goals of Transitional Justice." Human Rights
Quarterly. Vol. 30 (2008): 95-118.
Tiemessen, Alana. “The International Normative Structure of Transitional Justice”. Draft
Chapter. 2014.
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Recommended Reading
Kritz, Neil (ed). Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes. (Volumes
1-3). Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2005.
Teitel, Ruti. Transitional Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Roht-Arriaza, Naomi and Javier Mariezcurrena (eds). Transitional Justice in the Twenty-First Century:
Beyond Truth versus Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006: 1-16.
Arthur, Paige. “How ‘Transitions’ Reshaped Human Rights: A Conceptual History of Transitional Justice” in Human Rights Quarterly. Vol. 31 (2009): 321-367.
Olsen, Tricia D., Leigh A. Payne and Andrew G. Reiter. Transitional Justice in Balance: Comparing
Processes, Weighing Efficacy. Washington DC: USIP Press, 2010.
Fisher, Kirsten J. and Robert Stewart (eds). Transitional Justice and the Arab Spring. New York:
Routledge, Forthcoming 2014.
Aoláin, Fionnuala Ní. "Women, security, and the patriarchy of internationalized transitional justice" in
Human Rights Quarterly Vol. 31 No. 4 (2009): 1055-1085.
THE GLOBAL GOVERNANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
III. INTERNATIONAL & HYBRID COURTS (Jan 22)
Sikkink, Kathryn. “The Streams of the Justice Cascade” in The Justice Cascade: How Human
Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc
(2011): 96-125.
Bass, Gary Jonathan. “Epilogue: Do War Crimes Tribunals Work?” in Stay the Hand of
Vengeance. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000: 284-310.
Barria, Lilian A., and Stephen D. Roper. "How Effective Are International Criminal Tribunals? An
Analysis of the ICTY and ICTR" in The International Journal of Human Rights. Vol. 9, No. 3
(2005): 349-68.
Peskin, Victor. "Beyond Victor's Justice: The Challenge of Prosecuting the Winners at the
International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda" in Journal of Human
Rights. Vol. 4 (2005): 213-31.
Cohen, David. “’Hybrid Justice’ in East Timor, Sierra Leone and Cambodia: ‘Lessons Learned’ and
Prospects for the Future” in Stanford Journal of International Law (2007): 1-38.
Recommended reading
Goldstone, Richard J. and Adam M. Smith. International Judicial Institutions: The architecture of
international justice at home and abroad. New York: Routledge, 2009.
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Peskin, Victor. International Justice in Rwanda and the Balkans: Virtual Trials and the Struggle for State
Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Megret, Frederic. “The Politics of International Criminal Justice” in European Journal of International
Law Vol. 13 (2002): 1261-1284.
Humphrey, Michael. “International intervention, justice and national reconciliation: the role of the ICTY and ICTR in Bosnia and Rwanda” in Journal of Human Rights 2.4 (2003): 495-505.
Sperfeldt, Christoph. “From the Margins of Internationalized Criminal Justice: Lesson Learned at the
Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia” in Journal of International Criminal Justice. Vol. 11,
No. 5 (2013): 1111-1137.
IV. THE ICC AND JUDICIAL INTERVENTION IN AFRICA (Jan 29)
Schiff, Benjamin N. “The Statute – Justice versus Sovereignty” in Building the International
Criminal Court. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008: 68-92.
Mills, Kurt. “’Bashir is Dividing Us’: Africa and the International Criminal Court in Human Rights
Quarterly Vol. 34, No. 2 (2012): 404-447.
Peskin, Victor. “Caution and Confrontation in the International Criminal Court’s Pursuit of
Accountability in Uganda and Sudan” in Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 31 (2009): 655-691.
Branch, Adam. “Uganda’s Civil War and the Politics of ICC Intervention,” in Ethics and
International Affairs, Vol. 21 (2007): 179-198
Glasius, Marlies. “What is Global Justice and Who Decides? Civil Society and Victim Responses to the International Criminal Court’s First Investigations” in Human Rights Quarterly Vol. 31
(2009): 496-520.
Recommended Reading
Schabas, William A. An Introduction to the International Criminal Court (4 th ed). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2011.
Stahn, Carsten. “Libya, the International Criminal Court: A Test for ‘Shared Responsibility’” in Journal of
International Criminal Justice. Vol. 10, No. 2 (2012): 325-349.
Akhavan, Payam. “The Rise, and Fall, and Rise of International Criminal Justice” in Journal of
International Criminal Justice. Vol. 11, No. 3 (2013): 527-536.
Mendez, Juan. “National Reconciliation, Transnational Justice, and the International Criminal Court” in
Ethics & International Affairs, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2001): 25-44.
Human Rights Watch. Courting History: The Landmark International Criminal Court's First Years. New
York: Human Rights Watch, 2008. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/07/11/courting-history
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V. INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND POWER POLITICS (Feb 5)
Bosco, David. Rough Justice: The International Criminal Court in a World of Power Politics.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014: (Ch 1, 4, 6) 11-22; 78-107; 139-176.
Schiff, Benjamin N. “ICC-State Relations” in Building the International Criminal Court.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008: 165-193
Birdsall, Andrea. ‘“The Monster We Need to Slay”? Global Governance, the United States, and the International Criminal Court” in Global Governance Vol. 16, Issue 4: 451-469.
Sikkink, Kathryn. “Is the United States Immune to the Justice Cascade?” in The Justice Cascade:
How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc (2011): 189-222.
Recommended Reading
Leonard, Eric K. The Onset of Global Governance: International Relations Theory and the International
Criminal Court. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005.
Sewall, Sarah B., and Kaysen, Carl. The United States and the International Criminal Court: national
security and international law. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000.
Wedgwood, Ruth. “Fiddling in Rome: America and the International Criminal Court” in Foreign Affairs,
Vol. 77, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 1998): 20-24.
Kaye, David. “America’s Honeymoon with the ICC” in Foreign Affairs. April 16, 2013. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139170/david-kaye/americas-honeymoon-with-theicc?page=show
VI. THE PEACE AND JUSTICE DICHOTOMY (Feb 12)
Human Rights Watch (HRW). Selling Justice Short: Why Accountability Matters for Peace. New
York: Human Rights Watch, 2009: Overview http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/07/07/selling-justice-short
Grono, Nick and Adam O’Brien. “Justice in Conflict?” The ICC and Peace Processes” in Courting
Conflict? Justice, Peace and the ICC in Africa. Nicholas Waddell and Phil Clark (eds). London:
Royal African Society, 2008: 13-20. http://www.royalafricansociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=415
Akhavan, Payam. "Are International Criminal Tribunals a Disincentive to Peace?: Reconciling
Judicial Romanticism with Political Realism" in Human Rights Quarterly. Vol. 31 (2009): 624-54.
Vinjamuri, Leslie. “Deterrence, Democracy, and the Pursuit of International Justice” in Ethics &
International Affairs 24:2 (2010): 191-211.
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Sikkink, Kathryn. “Global Deterrence and Human Rights Prosecutions” in The Justice Cascade:
How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc. (2011): 162-188.
Cronin-Furman, Kate. “Managing Expectations: International Criminal Trials and the Prospects for Deterrence of Mass Atrocity” in The International Journal of Transitional Justice. Vol. 7, No.
3 (2013): 434-454.
Mallinder, Louise. "Can Amnesties and International Justice Be Reconciled?" The International
Journal of Transitional Justice 1.2 (2007): 208-30.
Recommended Readings
Snyder, Jack and Leslie Vinjamuri. “Trials and Errors: Principle and Pragmatism in Strategies of
International Justice” in International Security Vol. 28, No. 3 (Winter 2003/4): 5-44.
Roach, Steven. “Humanitarian Emergencies and the International Criminal Court: Toward a Cooperative
Arrangement between the ICC and the UN Security Council” in International Studies Perspectives. Vol. 6
(2005): 431-446.
Forsyth, David. “The UN Security Council and Response to Atrocities: International Criminal Law and the
P-5” in Human Rights Quarterly 34 (2012): 840-863.
THE BREADTH AND DEPTH OF LOCAL JUSTICE
VII. RESTORATION AND RECONCILIATION (Feb 19)
Philpott, Daniel. “Reconciliation as a Concept of Justice” in Just and Unjust Peace: An Ethic of
Political Reconciliation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012: 48-73.
Villa-Vicencio, Charles. “The Politics of Reconciliation” in Telling the Truths: Truth-Telling and
Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies. Tristan Anne Borer (ed). Notre Dame: University of
Notre Dame Press, 2006: 59-81.
Meierhenrich, Jens. “Varieties of Reconciliation” in Law and Social Inquiry. Vol. 33, No. 1(Winter
2008): 195-231.
Philpott, Daniel. “Four Practices: Building Socially Just Institutions, Acknowledgement,
Reparations, and Apologies” in Just and Unjust Peace: An Ethic of Political Reconciliation.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012: 171-206
Recommended Reading
Fletcher, Laurel E. and Harvey M. Weinstein. “Violence and Social Repair: Rethinking the Contribution of
Justice to Reconciliation” in Human Rights Quarterly Vol. 24 (2002): 573-639.
Stover, Eric, and Harvey M. Weinstein (eds). My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the
Aftermath of Mass Atrocity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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VIII. TRUTH-TELLING AND TRUTH COMMISSIONS (Feb 26)
Mendez, Juan E. “The Human Right to Truth: Lessons Learned from Latin American Experiences with Truth-Telling” in Telling the Truths: Truth-Telling and Peace Building in Post-Conflict
Societies. Tristan Anne Borer (ed). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006: 115-144.
Daly, Erin. "Truth Skepticism: An Inquiry into the Value of Truth in Times of Transition" in The
International Journal of Transitional Justice. Vol. 2 (2008): 23-41.
Olsen, Tricia D., Leigh A. Payne, Andrew G. Reiter & Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm. “When Truth
Commissions Improve Human Rights” in The International Journal of Transitional Justice. Vol. 4
(2010): 457-476.
Leebaw, Bronwyn. “A Different Kind of Justice: South Africa’s Alternative to Legalism” in
Judging State-Sponsored Violence, Imagining Political Change. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2011: 58-90.
Ross, Fiona C. “An Acknowledged Failure: Women, Voice, Violence, and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission” in Localizing Transitional Justice: Interventions and Priorities
After Mass Violence. Rosalind Shaw and Lars Waldorf (ed). Stanford: Stanford University Press,
2010: 69-91.
Recommended Reading
Hayner, Priscilla. Unspeakable Truths: Transitional Justice and the Challenge of Truth Commissions. New
York: Routledge, 2001.
Popkin, Margaret and Naomi Roht-Arriaza. “Truth as Justice: Investigatory Commission in Latin America” in Law and Social Inquiry Vol. 20, No. 1 (1995): 79-116.
Gibson, J.L. "The Truth about Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa" in International Political Science
Review. Vol. 26, No. 4 (2005): 341-361.
James, Matt. “A Carnival of Truth? Knowledge, Ignorance and the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation
Commission” in The International Journal of Transitional Justice .Vol. 6 (2012): 182-204.
Schabas. William A. “The Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission” in Transitional Justice in the
Twenty-First Century: Beyond Truth versus Justice. Naomi Roht-Arriaza and Javier Mariezcurrena (eds).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006: 21-42.
IX. “GRASSROOTS”JUSTICE: REINVENTING TRADITION (Mar 5)
Huyse, Luc. “Introduction: Tradition Based Approaches peacemaking, transitional justice policies and reconciliation” in Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict:
Learning from African Experiences. Luc Huyse and Mark Salter (eds). Stockholm: International
Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance: 1-20.
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http://www.idea.int/publications/traditional_justice/upload/Chapter_1_Introduction_tradition
-based_approaches_in_peacemaking_transitional_justice_and_reconciliation_policies.pdf
Iliff, Andrew R. “Root and Branch: Discourse of ‘Tradition’ in Grassroots Traditional Justice” in
The International Journal of Transitional Justice. Vol. 6 No. 2 (2012): 253-273.
Allen, Tim. “Ritual (Ab)use? Problems with Traditional Justice in Northern Uganda” in Courting
Conflict? Justice, Peace and the ICC in Africa. Nicholas Waddell and Phil Clark (eds). London:
Royal African Society, 2008: 47-54. http://www.royalafricansociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=415
Baines, Erin K. “The Haunting of Alice: Local Approaches to Justice and Reconciliation in
Northern Uganda” in The International Journal of Transitional Justice, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 91-
114.
Ingelaere, Bert. “The Gacaca courts in Rwanda” in Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after
Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences. Luc Huyse and Mark Salter (eds). Stockholm:
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance: 25-59. http://www.idea.int/publications/traditional_justice/upload/Traditional_Justice_and_Reconcili ation_after_Violent_Conflict.pdf
Thomson, Susan. “Everyday Resistance to the Gacaca Process” in Whispering Truth to Power:
Everyday Resistance to Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda. Madison: University Wisconsin
Press, 2013: 160-182.
Recommended Reading
Shaw, Rosalind and Lars Waldorf (with Pierre Hazan). Localizing International Justice: Interventions and
Priorities After Mass Violence. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010.
Burgess, Patrick. “A new approach to restorative justice – East Timor’s Community Reconciliation
Processes” in Naomi Roht-Arriaza and Javier Mariezcurrena (eds). Transitional Justice in the Twenty-First
Century: Beyond Truth versus Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006: 176-205.
Thomson, Alex, and Niki Jazdowska. “Bringing in the Grassroots: transitional justice in Zimbabwe” in
Conflict, Security, and Development. Vol. 12, No. 1 (March 2012): 75-102.
X. MEMORY AND MEMORIALIZATION (Mar 12)
Barsalou, Judy and Victoria Baxter. The Urge to Remember: The Role of Memorials in Social
Reconstruction and Transitional Justice. Stabilization and Reconstruction Series No. 5.
Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2007: 1-17. http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/srs5.pdf
Williams, Paul. “The Surviving Object: Presence and Absence in Memorial Museums” in
Memorial Museums: the global rush to commemorate atrocities. New York: Berg, 2007.
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Hamber, Brandon, Liz Ševčenko, and Ereshnee Naidu. “Utopian Dreams or Practical
Possibilities? The Challenges of Evaluating the Impact of Memorialization in Societies in
Transition” in The International Journal of Transitional Justice. Vol. 4, No. 3 (2010): 397-420.
Meierhenrich, Jens. “Topographies of Remembering and Forgetting: The Transformation of
Lieux de Mémoire in Rwanda” in Remaking Rwanda: State Building and Human Rights after
Mass Violence. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011: 283-296
Jelin, Elizabeth. “Public Memorialization in Perspective: Truth, Justice, and Memory of Past
Repression in the Southern Cone of South America” in The International Journal of Transitional
Justice. Vol. 1, No. 1 (2007): 128-156.
Manning, Peter. “Governing Memory: Justice, reconciliation and outreach at the Extraordinary
Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia” in Memory Studies. Vol. 5 No. 2 (2011): 165-181.
Recommended Reading
Shaw, Rosalind. “Memory Frictions: Localizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone” in The International Journal of Transitional Justice. Vol. 1, No. 2 (2007): 183-207.
Lessa, Francesca. Memory and Transitional Justice in Argentina and Uruguay. New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2013.
Ibrek, Rachel. “The politics of mourning: Survivor contributions to memorials in post-genocide Rwanda” in Memory Studies. Vol. 3, No. 4 (2010): 330-343.
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