Through war crimes prosecutions, truth commissions, purges of perpetrators, reparations, and memorials, transitional justice practices work under the assumptions that truth telling leads to reconciliation, prosecutions bring closure, and justice prevents the recurrence of violence. But when local responses to transitional justice destabilize these assumptions, the result can be a troubling disconnection between international norms and survivors' priorities.
"Localizing Transitional Justice" traces how ordinary people respond to--and sometimes transform--transitional justice mechanisms, laying a foundation for more locally responsive approaches to social reconstruction after mass violence and egregious human rights violations. Recasting understandings of culture and locality prevalent in international justice, this vital book explores the complex, unpredictable, and unequal encounter among international legal norms, transitional justice mechanisms, national agendas, and local priorities and practices.

Through war crimes prosecutions, truth commissions, purges of perpetrators, reparations, and memorials, transitional justice practices work under the assumptions that truth telling leads to reconciliation, prosecutions bring closure, and justice prevents the recurrence of violence. But when local responses to transitional justice destabilize these assumptions, the result can be a troubling disconnection between international norms and survivors' priorities. Localizing Transitional Justice traces how ordinary people respond to-and sometimes transform-transitional justice mechanisms, laying a foundation for more locally responsive approaches to social reconstruction after mass violence and egregious human rights violations. Recasting understandings of culture and locality prevalent in international justice, this vital book explores the complex, unpredictable, and unequal encounter among international legal norms, transitional justice mechanisms, national agendas, and local priorities and practices.

For the past twenty years, international donors have invested heavily in large-scale disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs, while, at the same time, transitional justice measures have proliferated, bringing truth, justice, and reparations to those recovering from state violence and civil war. Yet DDR programs are seldom deconstructed to discover whether they truly achieve their justice-related aims. Additionally, transitional justice mechanisms rarely articulate strategies for coordinating with DDR. "Disarming the Past" examines the connections--and failures--between these two initiatives within peacebuilding contexts and evaluates future links between DDR programs and the aims of transitional justice. The outcome of a substantial research project initiated by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), this book is crucial for anyone interested in effective interventions and enduring outcomes.