CloseHelpPrint
Kies de Nederlandse taal
Course module: UCHUMHIS37
UCHUMHIS37
Transitional Justice: The Historical Dilemma of Retribution or Reconciliation
Course info
Course codeUCHUMHIS37
EC7.5
Course goals
After completing this course, students are able to:
  • demonstrate full understanding of the historical development and efficacy of instruments, developed to deal with mass violations of human rights
  • identify the major debates in the interdisciplinary research area of transitional justice
  • single out a significant case-study
  • formulate specific research questions
  • position their case-study in its proper historical, theoretical and methodological context
  • make use of a variety of historical (primary and secondary) sources
  • present the outcome of their research, both oral and written, in a clear, cohesive and consistent argument.
Content
During the 20th century societies have been struggling with the aftermath of mass violence.  Generally speaking, two kinds of reaction patterns can be recognized:
1. retribution (bound by the past, punishing those responsible for criminal acts), like after the Second World War in the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials;
2. reconciliation (directed at the future, trying to rebuild society) like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-Apartheid South Africa.

But these are only a few examples of a (world)wide variety. From Argentina to Australia, Canada to Cambodia, and Serbia to Sierra Leone, people have made their own specific attempts to ‘undo’ the effects of mass violations of human rights: from denial and refusal to apologies and financial compensations to war victims and native peoples, memorials and monuments, academic inquiries like the Srebrenica Report of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, and last but not least international action, such as the Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals and the International Criminal Court in The Hague. But how effective have all of these instruments and mechanisms actually been? Is it possible to do justice and heal wounds at the same time? That’s the leading research question in this course. Attention will not exclusively be focused on the national level. Historical cases with an international dimension (like abuses in the colonial era and the Armenian genocide) will also be dealt with.

Format
Class meets twice a week in two-hour sessions. During the first part of the course (efore mid-term), we analyze, in group and plenary discussions, the historical development and efficacy of instruments, developed since the beginning of the 20th century for dealing with mass violations of human rights, using the textbook of Olsen, Payne and Reiter. Research articles are used to deepen our insight into specific historical cases and to familiarize ourselves with the relevant theory and methodology. A class excursion to the International Criminal Court and the Peace Palace, both in The Hague, will help to experience ‘in the real world’ what transitional justice is all about. Students conclude this part with a take home exam of the discussed literature and with an academic book review of an authoritative study with regard to their own case-study.   
 
The second part of the course (after mid-term) is devoted to these case-studies. Students will set up and conduct their own individual research project. They learn how to develop their research question, how to identify the relevant theory and apply it to their specific research topic, and how to trace and use the necessary sources. They present the outcome of their case-study during class and conclude it in a final paper.
So, like in the first part of the course, grading is individual in this second part as well. Nevertheless, the students will work together in small groups (based on geographically / thematically related research topics). These groups will prepare their own session, to which each member contributes a presentation of his / her individual research project.  Like this, students learn to work individually, but at the same time get and give multiple feedback, by and to their subgroup and their classmates, and by their teacher.


This course focuses on ‘repairing’ massive historical violations of human rights on a national and international level. By its (world)historical context, the legal dimension it offers and the link it establishes between (inter)national politics and specific groups of victims it complements and extends the following existing provisions within the UCU program:
  • UCINTHIS21 – Understanding Conflict
  • UCINTLAT21 – Culture and Society in Latin America
  • UCSSCANT21 – Violence, Trauma and Memory
  • UCSSCLAW21 – International Law
  • UCSSCLAW31 – International Human Rights
  • UCINTHIS32 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
  • UCHUMLIT36 – Postcolonial Interventions: Literature, Media & Politics
 
CloseHelpPrint
Kies de Nederlandse taal