Human Rights, Transitional Justice, and the Reconstruction of Political Order in Latin America

Human Rights, Transitional Justice, and the Reconstruction of Political Order in Latin America PDF

Author: Michelle Frances Carmody

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-04-27

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 3319783939

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In Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America, decades after the fall of authoritarian regimes in the 1970s, transitional justice has proven to be anything but transitional—it has become a cornerstone of state policy and a powerful tool of state formation. Contextualizing cultural and political shifts in Argentina after the 1976 military coup with comparisons to other countries in the Southern Cone, Michelle Frances Carmody argues that incorporating human rights practices into official policy became a way for state actors to both build the authority of the state and manage social conflict, a key aim of post-Cold War democracies. By examining the relationship between transitional justice and the Latin American political order, this book illuminates overlooked dimensions of state formation in the age of human rights.

Transitional Justice in Latin America

Transitional Justice in Latin America PDF

Author: Elin Skaar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-10-27

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 1317526201

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This book addresses current developments in transitional justice in Latin America – effectively the first region to undergo concentrated transitional justice experiences in modern times. Using a comparative approach, it examines trajectories in truth, justice, reparations, and amnesties in countries emerging from periods of massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The book examines the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, developing and applying a common analytical framework to provide a systematic, qualitative and comparative analysis of their transitional justice experiences. More specifically, the book investigates to what extent there has been a shift from impunity towards accountability for past human rights violations in Latin America. Using ‘thick’, but structured, narratives – which allow patterns to emerge, rather than being imposed – the book assesses how the quality, timing and sequencing of transitional justice mechanisms, along with the context in which they appear, have mattered for the nature and impact of transitional justice processes in the region. Offering a new approach to assessing transitional justice, and challenging many assumptions in the established literature, this book will be of enormous benefit to scholars and others working in this area.

Comparing Transitions to Democracy. Law and Justice in South America and Europe

Comparing Transitions to Democracy. Law and Justice in South America and Europe PDF

Author: Cristiano Paixão

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-10-01

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 3030675025

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This present book examines some of the key features of the interplay between legal history, authoritarian rule and political transitions in Brazil and other countries from the end of 20th Century until today. This book casts light on these aspects of the role of law and legal actors/institutions. In the context of transition from authoritarian rule to democratic state, Brazil has produced a significant literature on the challenges and shortcomings of the transition, but little attention has been given to the role of law and legal actors/institutions. Different approaches focus on the legal mechanisms, discourses and practices used by the military regime and by the players involved in the political transition process in Brazil. A comparative perspective that takes into account different political transitions – and their legal consequences – in Europe and Latin America complements the analysis. Part 1 (4 essays) discusses some of the central issues of political transition and legal history in contemporary Brazil, focusing on the time of the transition (and its effects on transitional justice) with different perspectives, from racial and gender issues to constitutional reform and police repression. Part 2 (3 essays) brings the comparative studies on South American experiences. Part 3 (4 essays) analyses different cases of transition to democracy in Chile, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Part 4 (3 essays) proposes a historiographical and methodological approach, considering the politics of time involved in the interplay between political transitions and legal history.

Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America

Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America PDF

Author: Global South Study Center (GSSC), University of Cologne

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2015-10-22

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1498513867

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Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America presents a nuanced and evidence-based discussion of both the acceptance and co-optation of the transitional justice framework and its potential abuses in the context of the struggle to keep the memory of the past alive and hold perpetrators accountable within Latin America and beyond. The contributors argue that “transitional justice”—understood as both a conceptual framework shaping discourses and a set of political practices—is a Janus-faced paradigm. Historically it has not always advanced but often hindered attempts to achieve historical memory and seek truth and justice. This raises the vital question: what other theoretical frameworks can best capture legacies of human rights crimes? Providing a historical view of current developments in Latin America’s reckoning processes, Legacies of State Violence and Transitional Justice in Latin America reflects on the meaning of the paradigm’s reception: what are the broader political and social consequences of supporting, appropriating, or rejecting the transitional justice paradigm?

(Un)civil Societies

(Un)civil Societies PDF

Author: Rachel A. May

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 9780739120651

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Rachel A. May and Andrew K. Milton have assembled an array of scholars from different disciplines to examine transitional governments in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Drawing on specific political conditions and organized around topics such as the media, political parties, and political violence, (Un)Civil Societies broadens the discussion about democratization both thematically and geographically.

After Violence

After Violence PDF

Author: Elin Skaar

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-04-17

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1317696913

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After Violence: Transitional Justice, Peace, and Democracy examines the effects of transitional justice on the development of peace and democracy. Anticipated contributions of transitional justice mechanisms are commonly stated in universal terms, with little regard for historically specific contexts. Yet a truth commission, for example, will not have the same function in a society torn by long-term civil war or genocide as in a society emerging from authoritarian repression. Addressing trials, reparations, truth commissions, and amnesties, the book systematically addresses the experiences of four very different contemporary transitional justice cases: post-authoritarian Uruguay and Peru and post-conflict Rwanda and Angola. Its analysis demonstrates that context is a crucial determinant of the impact of transitional justice processes, and identifies specific contextual obstacles and limitations to these processes. The book will be of much interest to scholars in the fields of transitional justice and peacebuilding, as well as students generally concerned with human rights and democratisation.

The Inter-American Human Rights System as a Safeguard for Justice in National Transitions

The Inter-American Human Rights System as a Safeguard for Justice in National Transitions PDF

Author: Annelen Micus

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2015-08-11

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 9004289739

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In The Inter-American Human Rights System as a Safeguard for Justice in National Transitions, Annelen Micus analyzes the importance of the Inter-American Human Rights System for transitional justice processes in Latin America, with a focus on Argentina, Chile and Peru. She examines which factors influence a country’s approach in confronting its past and addressing impunity. The emphasis is placed on the way countries may overcome amnesty laws with the support of international law in order to hold perpetrators of grave human rights violations to account. The book’s main focus is on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the impact of its jurisprudence on legal proceedings and political decisions within the national transitional justice processes in the three countries.

The Role of Courts in Transitional Justice

The Role of Courts in Transitional Justice PDF

Author: Jessica Almqvist

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-17

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 1136579265

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Bringing together a group of outstanding judges, scholars and experts with first-hand experience in the field of transitional justice in Latin America and Spain, this book offers an insider’s perspective on the enhanced role of courts in prosecuting serious human rights violations and grave crimes, such as genocide and war crimes, committed in the context of a prior repressive regime or current conflict. The book also draws attention to the ways in which regional and international courts have come to contribute to the initiation of national judicial processes. All the contributions evince that the duty to investigate and prosecute grave crimes can no longer simply be brushed to the side in societies undergoing transitions. The Role of Courts in Transitional Justice is essential reading for practitioners, policy-makers and scholars engaged in the transitional justice processes or interested in judicial and legal perspectives on the role of courts, obstacles faced, and how they may be overcome. It is unique in its ambition to offer a comprehensive and systematic account of the Latin American and Spanish experience and in bringing the insights of renowned judges and experts in the field to the forefront of the discussion.

Truth Commissions and Transitional Societies

Truth Commissions and Transitional Societies PDF

Author: Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-01-05

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1135189722

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This book uses a multi-method approach to examine the impact of truth commissions on subsequent human rights protection and democratic practice and features cross-national case studies on South Africa, El Salvador, Chile and Uganda.