Judging War, Judging History: Behind Truth and Reconciliation / Edition 1

by Pierre Hazan, Sarah Meyer de Stadelhofen

Overview

In a country or community fractured by war and mass violence, who is to determine "justice" and how it should be achieved? Truth commissions, international courts, and financial restitution are some of the various solutions that have been used in recent years. However, these broad efforts at transitional justice may themselves backfire, and sometimes lead to further injustice. Given its own limitations and battered by political pressure from all sides, transitional justice is an imperfect solution. Yet as Pierre Hazan contends in his new book, it constitutes our best hope for liberation from a cycle of violence begetting vengeance and more violence.

Judging War, Judging History takes a hard look at the growing use and influence of truth and reconciliation commissions and the increasing importance of transitional justice in contemporary conflict resolution. From the Nuremberg Trials to current-day conflicts in South Africa, Morocco, and Uganda, Pierre Hazan reveals the extent to which the approaches intended to commemorate events and mend societies after acts of war and violence ultimately intensify the huge task of dealing with victims' claims for recognition. This compelling book uncovers the tensions created by these new reconciliation policies and shows how changing ideas about and approaches to justice influence not only our understanding of the past, but also our contemporary social and political choices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804769563
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Publication date:	05/21/2010
Series:	Stanford Studies in Human Rights
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Pierre Hazan is Visiting Professor of Post-Conflict Justice at the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. He is the author of Justice in a Time of War: The True Story Behind the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (2004). The French-language edition of Judging War, Judging History (2007) received the 2008 Georges Dreyfus Prize.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Prologue: The Human Selection 1

Introduction 7

1 The Genesis of Transitional Justice 13

The Nuremberg Trials, or How to Legitimize the New World Order 14

Germany and the Politics of Repentance 19

The Awakening of Jewish Memory and the Insistence on Imprescriptibility 22

Israel, the Eichmann Trial, and the Creation of a New National Ethos 23

2 The Growing Strength of Transitional Justice 29

The Genealogy of the Concept of Transition 30

The Quest for Reconciliation 32

From the Politics of Pardon to the Politics of Punishment 41

Ameriglobalization 43

The NGOs, the New Enterpreneurs of Norms 48

The Centrality of Crimes Against Humanity 52

Restorative and Criminal Justice: From Clash to the Package Approach 55

The Eclipse of Hope 58

3 The Durban Conference: An Attempt at Universalism 63

Unlikely Cement for the International Community 66

The Limits of Restorative Justice 68

NGOs: The Victimization Package 72

The Intergovernmental Conference: The Escalation 81

4 Morocco: The Globalization of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions 92

Context: The Progressive Process of Liberalization 93

The Mandate of the Truth Commission 95

The King's Motivation 101

Two Founding Ambiguities 104

The Functioning of the ERC 106

Collective Pardon on Islamic Soil 112

The Truth Commission and the "Anti-Terrorist War" 115

The ERC's Report: Truth Under Wraps 117

5 Uganda: Traditional Justice vs. the International Criminal Court 128

The Ugandan Context: Crimes, Amnesty, and Justice 129

The ICC: Judicial Arm of the Ugandan Government? 137

The ICC: Universal or Neocolonial? 141

A Profit-Loss Calculation 144

Conclusion 151

Legal Ambiguity 155

The Competition for Victimhood 155

Justice Perverted by Politics 156

The Technocratic Illusion 156

Epilogue: The Challenge of Legitimacy 159

Notes 173

Bibliography 207

Editorial Reviews

"In Judging War, Judging history, Pierre Hazan offers an erudite account of the genesis of transitional justice. He tells a compelling tale of how it emerged and rapidly developed over the last two decades."—Thierry Cruvellier, African Affairs

"A very ambitious gamble, a remarkable analysis."—Le Monde

"Few people have analyzed as thoughtfully as Pierre Hazan the potential conflicts between peace and justice, and the tensions between righting the wrongs of the past and assuring harmony in the present. Skeptical and inquisitive, Hazan goes beyond clichés and dogmas to explore the rise—and the limits—of international law in resolving historical injustices."—Reed Brody, Human Rights Watch

"From the trauma of the first Durban conference on racism to the ambivalence of Africa vis-a-vis the International Criminal Court, Pierre Hazan examines brilliantly the marketplace of grievances, justice, memory, and vindication. A beautifully written book, intellectually challenging, honest, and hard-hitting."—Louise Arbour, President and CEO, International Crisis Group; Former UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights; Former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda

"Judging War, Judging History tackles issues of global justice head on: including probing issues of accountability regarding the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court, as well as compelling discussions of the UN meeting at Durban and local truth and reconciliation efforts. Always nuanced, full of interesting insights on the critical events of our time, this is a great pleasure to read!"—Ruti Teitel, New York Law School, author of Transitional Justice (2000)

"Pierre Hazan, in a brilliant and erudite book beautifully written, analyzes the fascinating account of the judicial and cultural revolution that started after the end of the Cold War."—Le Monde Diplomatique

"Pierre Hazan decodes the ideological and political story of the tools of international justice and national reconciliation."—Joelle Schachi, Amnesty International

"Hazan casts a critical eye at the grand redemptive promise of transitional justice, particularly the belief that the memory of mass violence, exposed to the clean light of technocratic solutions, can be relegated to an inert and complacent past. Atrocities reduce abstract, prepackaged formulas to raw humanity, to yardsticks and scales, yet Hazan remains hopeful that truth has a life and weight of its own."—Emily Geminder, The Global Journal

"Hazan, a Swiss journalist by trade but with graduate degrees and varied experience, has written a personalized account of transitional justice . . . Strong points of the book include a discussion of the politics of constructing victimhood... Recommended."—D. P. Forsythe, University of Nebraska, Choice

From the Publisher

"From the trauma of the first Durban conference on racism to the ambivalence of Africa vis-a-vis the International Criminal Court, Pierre Hazan examines brilliantly the marketplace of grievances, justice, memory, and vindication. A beautifully written book, intellectually challenging, honest, and hard-hitting."

International Crisis Group; Former UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights; Former Prosecutor of the International Crimina - Louise Arbour

"Judging War, Judging History tackles issues of global justice head on: including probing issues of accountability regarding the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court, as well as compelling discussions of the UN meeting at Durban and local truth and reconciliation efforts. Always nuanced, full of interesting insights on the critical events of our time, this is a great pleasure to read!"

New York Law School, author of Transitional Justice (2000) - Ruti Teitel

"Pierre Hazan decodes the ideological and political story of the tools of international justice and national reconciliation."

Amnesty International - Joelle Schachi

"A very ambitious gamble, a remarkable analysis."

Le Monde

"Hazan casts a critical eye at the grand redemptive promise of transitional justice, particularly the belief that the memory of mass violence, exposed to the clean light of technocratic solutions, can be relegated to an inert and complacent past. Atrocities reduce abstract, prepackaged formulas to raw humanity, to yardsticks and scales, yet Hazan remains hopeful that truth has a life and weight of its own."

The Global Journal - Emily Geminder

"Pierre Hazan, in a brilliant and erudite book beautifully written, analyzes the fascinating account of the judicial and cultural revolution that started after the end of the Cold War."

Le Monde Diplomatique

"In Judging War, Judging history, Pierre Hazan offers an erudite account of the genesis of transitional justice. He tells a compelling tale of how it emerged and rapidly developed over the last two decades."

African Affairs - Thierry Cruvellier

"Hazan, a Swiss journalist by trade but with graduate degrees and varied experience, has written a personalized account of transitional justice . . . Strong points of the book include a discussion of the politics of constructing victimhood... Recommended."

Universityof Nebraska, Choice - D. P. Forsythe

"Few people have analyzed as thoughtfully as Pierre Hazan the potential conflicts between peace and justice, and the tensions between righting the wrongs of the past and assuring harmony in the present. Skeptical and inquisitive, Hazan goes beyond clichés and dogmas to explore the rise—and the limits—of international law in resolving historical injustices."

Human Rights Watch - Reed Brody