Transitional Justice

(2019) "Designing Truth: Facilitating Perpetrator Testimony at Truth Commissions." Journal of Human Rights 18(1): 92–110.

Author: Kelebogile Zvobgo

See a related article from February 2019 in The Washington Post (with Shauna N. Gillooly)
Mentions in the media: "To fight US racism, research prescribes a nationwide healing process," by Benjamin Appel and Cyanne Loyle in The Conversation

Truth commissions aim to promote transparency, accountability, and reconciliation by compiling detailed narratives of political violence. To achieve this end, both victims and perpetrators of abuses must testify. Yet, little is known about how commissions can be designed to facilitate perpetrator testimony. This article develops a theory of perpetrator participation in truth commissions, with a focus on institutional design. The article then evaluates the effectiveness of four design features—amnesties, subpoena powers, dual-party agreements, and spiritual frameworks—in facilitating perpetrator testimony in the truth commissions in Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Timor-Leste. The analysis indicates that the theoretical constructs developed are present, functional, and influential for perpetrator participation in the three commissions. And, while no individual design feature is essential, the case studies reveal that perpetrator participation may not be forthcoming without a robust dual-party agreement and/or a resonant spiritual framework. This underscores the importance of normative foundations for perpetrators’ engagement with commissions. Crucially, though advantageous features may be present, the criteria required for them to function may not be met, resulting in no effect or a negative effect on participation..

(2020) "Demanding Truth: The Global Transitional Justice Network and the Creation of Truth Commissions." International Studies Quarterly 64(3): 609–625.

Author: Kelebogile Zvobgo

See a related article from June 2020 in The Washington Post (with Carla Winston)
Listen to a podcast interview from September 2020 on the Politics Politics Politics (P3) Podcast
Mentions in practitioner reports: "Measuring Results and Monitoring Progress of Transitional Justice Processes," by Mateo Porciuncula for the International Center for Transitional Justice

Since 1970, scores of states have established truth commissions to document political violence. Despite their prevalence and potential consequence, the question of why commissions are adopted in some contexts, but not in others, is not well understood. Relatedly, little is known about why some commissions possess strong investigative powers while others do not. I argue that the answer to both questions lies with domestic and international civil society actors, who are connected by a global transitional justice (TJ) network and who share the burden of guiding commission adoption and design. I propose that commissions are more likely to be adopted where network members can leverage information and moral authority over governments. I also suggest that commissions are more likely to possess strong powers where international experts, who steward TJ best practices, advise governments. I evaluate these expectations by analyzing two datasets in the novel Varieties of Truth Commissions Project, interviews with representatives from international non-governmental organizations, interviews with Guatemalan non-governmental organization leaders, a focus group with Argentinian human rights advocates, and a focus group at the International Center for Transitional Justice. My results indicate that network members share the burden—domestic members are essential to commission adoption, while international members are important for strong commission design.

(2021) "Safeguarding Truth: Supporting Children's Participation at Truth Commissions."Journal of Human Rights 20(3): 282–303.

Authors: Sameer S.J.B Rana and Kelebogile Zvobgo

Children are among the most vulnerable groups during periods of repression and conflict, and their exposure to violence can have long-term effects on their development, including how they manage and express feelings of fear, anger, and shame. Children’s engagement in subsequent transitional justice processes, such as truth commissions, can also shape their development and that of their nations, but for the better. Surprisingly, little scholarship has considered how commissions have been designed to effectively and responsibly secure children’s involvement, notably their testimonies. This article develops a design-based theory of children’s participation in commissions. Then it probes, through case studies of the commissions in South Africa, Timor-Leste, and Sierra Leone, the influence of three institutional features on children’s participation: (1) provisions for children in the mandate, (2) targeted outreach, and (3) measures for protection and psychosocial support. We find broad support for the theory and conclude by discussing the implications of the evidence for scholars and practitioners.

(2021) "Democratizing Truth: An Analysis of Truth Commissions in the United States ." International Journal of Transitional Justice 15(3): 510–532.

Authors: Daniel Posthumus** and Kelebogile Zvobgo

See three related articles from October 2020 in The Washington Post and from March 2021 and April 2021 in Foreign Policy
Listen to a podcast interview from February 2021 on PRX's The World and June 2021 on NPR's Radio Times
Mentions in practitioner reports: "Racial Reckoning in the United States: Expanding and Innovating on the Global Transitional Justice Experience," by Ashley Quarcoo and Medina Husakovic for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Over the past half-century, numerous transitional justice (TJ) measures have been implemented globally. While much research has examined different TJ modalities in the aftermath of authoritarian rule and armed conflict, a growing body of work recognizes TJ outside of political transitions. We study a noteworthy export from transitional to non-transitional settings: truth commissions. Building on scholarship on TJ in established democracies, we introduce new quantitative data from the Varieties of Truth Commissions Project on truth commissions in an overlooked but significant case: the United States. The data captures 20 past, present and proposed official US truth commissions, most of them at the subnational level. Though their mandates vary considerably, they all address racial injustice, with an emphasis on anti-Indigenous and anti-Black violence. We elaborate on trends in the data and discuss the implications for unfolding efforts to reckon with historical and contemporary racial violence and injustice in the United States.

(2023) "Transitional Justice for Historical Injustice." In Lawther, Cheryl, and Luke Moffett (Editors). Research Handbook on Transitional Justice, 2nd edition (pp. 421–435). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

See a related article from December 2020 in Ms. Magazine

Authors: Colleen Murphy and Kelebogile Zvobgo

Historical injustice (political violence, for our purpose) is temporally distant and sometimes temporally extended. The transatlantic slave trade and colonialism are two prominent examples. Violence in the past reverberates into the present. Descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas are subjected to structural, state and interpersonal violence and discrimination, and citizens of former European colonies still pay the consequences of land and labour exploitation and experience the after-effects of being denied self-determination and self-governance. This chapter explores possibilities for transitional justice for historical political violence, with an emphasis on racialized violence. Throughout, we address both slavery and colonialism. While some scholarly and public discussions often separate the two, discussing each in isolation, this separation is a mistake. Slavery was one of the engines of colonialism; the so-called New World was built through the labour of enslaved peoples on stolen Indigenous land. Part of our argument draws attention to the problems that arise when states try to divide history into discrete periods and pursue piecemeal transitional justice. We begin the chapter by discussing some of the reasons why historical injustice should be included in transitional justice. We then turn to the challenges of doing so. Finally, we explore how transitional justice efforts might be re-imagined to better respond to historical injustice.

(2024) "Co-Opting Truth: Explaining Quasi-Judicial Institutions in Authoritarian Regimes." Human Rights Quarterly 46(1): 67–97.

Authors: Shauna N. Gillooly, Daniel Solomon, and Kelebogile Zvobgo

What accounts for the creation, design, and outputs of quasi-judicial institutions in autocracies? Prior research demonstrates that autocrats co-opt electoral, legislative, and judicial institutions to curtail opponents' power and curry international patrons' favor. However, scholarship on co-optation neglects quasi-judicial mechanisms, such as truth commissions, that can be useful for arranging a political narrative that bolsters a leader’s image while undermining his rivals. In this article, we formalize the concept of autocratic truth commissions—which account for one-third of truth commissions globally—and develop and test a novel theory of their origins, inputs, and outputs. We theorize that autocrats establish self-investigating commissions in response to threats to their symbolic authority and install rival-investigating commissions in response to threats to both symbolic authority and regime survival. We further argue that these two commission types take on different institutional forms and produce different outputs. Self-investigating commissions are afforded narrow mandates and produce reports that obscure basic facts. Meanwhile, rival-investigating commissions are granted wide mandates and culminate in accurate reports of rivals' responsibility for abuses. We evaluate these expectations through comparative case studies of two autocratic truth commissions in Uganda, and find support.

(2024) "Historical Violence and Public Attitudes Towards Justice: Evidence from the United States ." International Journal of Transitional Justice 18(1): 84–108.

Authors: Jamil S. Scott, Daniel Solomon, and Kelebogile Zvobgo

Read a related article from June 2019 in The Conversation
Mentions by practitioners: Maryland Lynching Memorial Project June and July 2024 newsletters

This article brings transitional justice scholarship to bear on the case of racial violence in the United States. We investigate how knowledge of racial terror lynchings shapes Black Americans’ support for symbolic and material transitional justice measures. We administer a survey with an embedded experiment to Black residents in Maryland, a US transitional justice pioneer. We provide select respondents with information about historical lynching violence and find that they are more likely to support symbolic transitional justice (e.g., apologies and memorial markers) than individuals presented with information on contemporary police killings. Regarding material transitional justice (e.g., monetary reparations and community projects), we find no significant differences between groups. Linked fate excepted, we do not find that key aspects of Black identity and the Black American experience (i.e., historical knowledge, police contact, church involvement and Black nationalist beliefs) moderate transitional justice attitudes. Our work indicates the promise and limits of information campaigns to mobilize support for transitional justice.

(2024) " Producing Truth: Public Memory Projects in Post-Violence Societies ."Human Rights Quarterly 46(2): 207–233.

Authors: Alexandra Byrne,** Bilen Zerie,** and Kelebogile Zvobgo

How do societies remember historical political violence? We draw on an original dataset of more than 150 memorialization projects proposed by truth commissions in 28 post-violence countries, from 1970 to 2018. These projects include the removal of monuments, installation of museums, inauguration of national days of remembrance, and more. Truth commission recommendations data allows us to not only consider memory sites once established, but also to examine blueprints for the types of memory that could have been made. We develop a typology and inductively generate a theory of the political contests and conflicts that different memory projects are likely to trigger—contests and conflicts that we expect influence the likelihood of project initiation and completion. We conduct an initial probe of the theory using our new data. In so doing, we offer the first systematic, global study of setting and implementing the memorialization agenda in post-violence societies.

(2024) "Monitoreo, Evaluación e Incidencia para la Implementación de las Recomendaciones de las Comisiones de la Verdad [Monitoring, Evaluation and Advocacy for the Implementation of Truth Commission Recommendations]." Policy Briefs del Instituto Colombo-Alemán para la Paz 2024(18): 1–11.

Authors: Adriana Rudling,* Elijah Tsai,** Kelebogile Zvobgo, and Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm

En sus informes finales, las comisiones de la verdad recomiendan diversas medidas para reparar los daños ocurridos en el pasado y prevenir los futuros. Recientemente, se ha comenzado a estudiar más estos organismos y la elaboración e implementación de sus recomendaciones. Algunas investigaciones resaltan la importancia de crear órganos de monitoreo, evaluación e incidencia (órganos de mei) que guíen a los gobiernos en la implementación de las recomendaciones. A partir de datos novedosos de trece comisiones de la verdad en Latinoamérica, este policy brief analiza los distintos tipos de órganos de mei, así como sus mandatos en los casos en que se han adoptado. También se identifican las variaciones en sus funciones y se discute brevemente su trabajo y sus resultados. Al final se brindan recomendaciones sobre la mejor manera de establecer e implementar las funciones de monitoreo, evaluación e incidencia para las comisiones de la verdad.

(2025) "Special Issue: The Afterlives of Transitional Justice." International Journal of Transitional Justice 19(1): 1–197.

"The Afterlives of Transitional Justice" (editors' introduction)

Kelebogile Zvobgo and Francesca Parente

Rising authoritarianism, far-right parties and violent political movements in the 21st century prompt scholars and practitioners to revisit two foundational assumptions in the transitional justice field, which was established in the 20th century amid the third wave of democratization. The first is that transitional justice is a consequence and a cause of democratic transition and consolidation. The second is that transitional justice has been a successful global project. Current political developments challenge us to take stock of the field and consider the implications for current and future scholarship and practice. In this introduction to the ‘Afterlives of Transitional Justice’ special issue of the International Journal of Transitional Justice (IJTJ), we first reflect on the many forms ('lives') that transitional justice has taken over the decades. The contributions address transitional justice’s life in three ways: as the transition to democracy, as the tools and processes themselves and as an academic and practice field. We then consider evolution and change in transitional justice ('afterlives'). In increasingly perilous times for human rights, we hope that the insights gathered in these pages will help affected communities, activists, practitioners, policymakers and scholars look back in order to move forward and uphold the promise 'Never again!'

"'The Strength Even to Comprehend the Incomprehensible': Rereading Adorno in the Age of Authoritarian Resurgence"

Onur Bakiner

"Transitional Justice and the Problem of Democratic Decline"

Geoff Dancy and Oskar Timo Thoms

"Public Attitudes toward On-Going Transitional Justice in Latvia: Sometimes More Isn’t Better"

Cynthia M. Horne

"Divisive Documents: Exploring the Local Impact of Legal Documents in Transitional Justice Contexts"

Sofie Budhoo

“The State of Repair: The International Norm of Reparations between Aspirations and Expectations"

Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch and Jennifer M. Dixon

"Difficult Stories that Haunt: Towards Research Otherwise in Transitional Justice"

Ulrike Lühe and Erin Baines