Closing the Books: Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective / Edition 1

by Jon Elster

Overview

After a change of political system, notably a transition from an autocratic to a democratic, or at least constitutional, regime, a process of transitional justice emerges in which wrongdoers from the previous regime are judged responsible and victims are compensated. John Elster looks at examples and proposes a framework for explaining variations. In addition to the numerous transitions after 1945 in Western Europe and after 1989 in Eastern Europe, transitional justice has taken place in classical Greece, the English and French restorations, and, more recently, in Latin America and South Africa. John Elster looks at these examples in this history of transitional justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521548540
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/06/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Professor Jon Elster is the Robert Merton Professor OF Social Science at Columbia University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Paris in 1972. Before coming to Columbia University, he taught at Paris, Oslo and Chicago. His publications include Ulysses and the Sirens (1979), Sour Grapes (1983), Making Sense of Marx (1985), The Cement of Society (1989), Solomonic Judgements (1989), Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences (1989), Local Justice (1992) and Political Psychology (1993). His research interests include the theory of rational choice, the theory of distributive justice and the history of social thought (Marx and Tocqueville).

Table of Contents

Part I. The Universe of Transitional Justice: 1. Athens in 411 and 403 BC.; 2. The French restorations in 1814 and 1815; 3. The larger universe of cases; Part II. Analytics of Transitional Justice: 4. The structure of transitional justice; 5. Wrongdoers; 6. Victims; 7. Constraints; 8. Emotions; 9. Politics.

Editorial Reviews

"Closing the Books is a fascinating examination of matters important to both law and political science."
The Law and Politics Book Review, Matthew Holden, Jr.

"...an important contribution... provides interesting and valuable analysis... fills an important gap in European policies that deal with the past."
Perspectives on Politics

"The book has interesting observations to make about the several dilemnas facing would-be doers of transititional justice...what he has done provides pleny of material for reflection about ethical perplexities, both perennial and very timely." - Harry Clor, Kenyan College

From the Publisher