AHRC-NSF MOU: The Impact of Transitional Justice on Human Rights and Democracy

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

The Impact of Transitional Justice on Human Rights and Democracy When, how, and why does transitional justice strengthen democracy and deter human rights violations? This project explores those questions using statistical and case study analyses of human rights trials, truth commissions, and amnesties in countries transitioning from authoritarian rule since 1970. It aims to build theory to explain the success of these mechanisms, resolve existing contradictory results on success, train researchers working in this field, and contribute to successful international and domestic policies on transitional justice, democracy, and human rights. The two researchers' previous projects produced contradictory results. Kathryn Sikkink's research team at the University of Minnesota found that trials achieve success on human rights. Leigh Payne's research team based at the University of Oxford concurs that trials are essential to improvements in human rights and democracy, but only when combined with amnesties or amnesties and truth commissions. To reconcile results, the researchers plan to merge their data bases to find discrepancies, develop common definitions, and provide more nuanced categories of types of mechanisms. The result of the merger is to develop a publicly accessible data base to be used to develop transitional justice theory and policies. The theoretical framework the researchers plan to develop involves three explanations for the success of trials. Existing theory claims that trials should have a deterrence effect through judicial enforcement, the expansion of human rights norms and socialization processes, and the development of rule of law systems. The researchers will further explore the success of trials in relationship with amnesties and truth commissions to further develop a justice balance theoretical approach. The research is directly engaging with the factors that facilitate countries in their transition from open conflict to peace and stability. It incorporates the advanced training of young scholars and graduate students in quantitative and qualitative research methods. The researchers will make the resultant data base publicly accessible in order to provide the opportunity for further transitional justice research by other scholars and practitioners. The findings for the project will be presented at academic conferences and in scholarly journals, at meetings in international and domestic governmental and non-governmental organizations, and on the project website. Project is coordinated in cooperation with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) of the United Kingdom