Searching for Truth in the Transitional Justice Movement

Searching for Truth in the Transitional Justice Movement examines calls for a truth commission to redress the brutal war during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, the decades-long armed conflict in Colombia, and US detention policies in the War on Terror. In so doing, it argues that transitional justice is an idea around which a loosely structured movement emerged and professionalized, making truth commissions a standard response to mass violence. By exploring how this movement developed, as well as efforts to make truth commissions in the Balkans, Colombia, and the US, this book explains different processes through which political actors translate new legal ideas such as transitional justice into political action. Further, it reveals how the malleability of transitional justice and truth commissions is both an asset and a liability for those hoping to ensure accountability, improve survivor well-being, and prevent future violence.

1. Searching for truth; 2. Building a transnational movement; 3. Disruption: a truth commission in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 4. Transformation: the politics of peace in Colombia; 5. Decoupled: transitional justice in the War on Terror; 6. The power of legal ideas.

Jamie Rowen is Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She received her doctorate from the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a law degree from Berkeley School of Law. Dr Rowen's work has been published in the International Journal of Transitional Justice, Law and Social Inquiry, Human Rights Quarterly, and numerous other outlets.