Description
Book SynopsisSince the 1980s a number of countries have established truth commissions to come to terms with the legacy of past human rights violations, yet little is known about the achievements and shortcomings of this popular transitional justice tool. Drawing on research on Chile''s National Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Peru''s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and exploring the scholarship on thirteen other transitional contexts, Onur Bakiner evaluates the success of truth commissions in promoting policy reform, human rights accountability, and the public recognition of human rights violations. He argues that although political elites often see a truth commission as a convenient way to address past atrocities, the findings, historical narratives, and recommendations of such commissions often surprise, upset, and discredit influential political actors. Even when commissions produce only modest change as a result of political constraints, Bakiner contends, they open up new avenue
Trade Review
"Onur Bakiner has written a first-rate book that speaks to concerns and debates among students of transitional justice, qualitative methodologists and ethical-normative theorists. Moving well beyond the illuminating-but highly limited-descriptive literature on truth commissions, Bakiner develops a broader argument that captures their operation and impact, highlighting the politics at play. The argument is then tested in a series of narratives that are not only well written, but methodologically self-aware-a rare combination. For all the talk of 'mechanisms' and 'process tracing,' it is refreshing to read a book where they are analytic tools doing real work." * Jeffrey T. Checkel, Simon Fraser University *
"Truth Commissions is a wonderful contribution to the increasingly robust scholarship on transitional justice. It brings a fresh perspective on why truth commissions are formed, how they operate under domestic political constraints, and what-if anything-their impact is on post-conflict societies. Through a detailed study of dozens of truth commissions around the world, Onur Bakiner carefully considers not only the pragmatic aspects of truth commissions, but also their ethical and normative impact on societies coming to terms with legacies of mass violence." * Jelena Subotic, author of Hijacked Justice: Dealing with the Past in the Balkans *
"Truth Commissions makes an important contribution to scholarship on truth commissions, as well as scholarship on memory politics. It offers an original and compelling argument regarding the role and influence of truth commissions and a useful set of conceptual tools for framing analyses of truth commissions." * Bronwyn Anne Leebaw, University of California, Riverside *
Table of Contents
Introduction
PART I. TRUTH, POWER, AND LEGITIMATION IN TRUTH COMMISSION PROCESSES
Chapter 1. Definition and Conceptual History of Truth Commissions: What Are They? What Have They Become?
Chapter 2. Speaking Truth to Power? The Politics of Truth Commissions
Chapter 3. One Truth Among Others? Truth Commissions' Struggle for Truth and Memory
PART II. ZOOMING IN: POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE THROUGH TRUTH COMMISSIONS
Chapter 4. Truth Commission Impact: An Assessment of How Commissions Influence Politics and Society
Chapter 5. Explaining Variation in Truth Commission Impact (I): Chile and Peru
Chapter 6. Explaining Variation in Truth Commission Impact (II): Evidence from Thirteen Countries
Chapter 7. Comparing Truth Commissions' Memory Narratives: Chile and Peru
PART III. ZOOMING OUT: COMING TO TERMS WITH THE PAST THROUGH TRUTH COMMISSIONS
Chapter 8. Nation and (Its New) Narration: A Critical Reading of Truth Commissions
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
