ch 6 - the ethics of political reconciliation

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51 Terms

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transitional justice

how to cope with regime atrocities

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goals/strategies of transitional justice

- restoration of rule of law

- consolidation of democratic institutions

- justice for HR victims

- political reconciliation and national unity

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2 approaches of transitional justice

1) engagement

2) avoidance/denial

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what is the assumption made by the engagement approach?

national healing/reconciliation can only be done through disclosing, acknowledging, redressing regime wrongdoing through accountability.

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what is the role of truth in the engagement approach?

indispensable

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strategies of accountability in the engagement approach

- legal retribution: immediate and long-term impact = supremacy of law

- official purges

- restitution (return of stolen property)

- reparations (financial compensation)

- public apologies

- truth commissions (most important)

- political forgiveness

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what are the 3 assumptions made by the avoidance/denial approach?

1) pervasive guilt impedes political reconciliation and creates further division of society.

2) accountability inhibits national reconciliation.

3) a forward-looking strategy in building a humane political order will prevent HR crimes from reoccurring.

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two expressions of the avoidance approach

1) historical amnesia - deny past/neglect memory

2) amnesty - public acts that relieve responsibility

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examples of engagement and avoidance

romania (engagement) and poland (avoidance - thick line)

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political reconciliation (Daniel Philpott)

the restoration of right relationship

(overcome division)

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six practices of political reconciliation (Daniel Philpott - critical to address past systemic evils)

1) building socially just institutions/relations

2) acknowledgement

3) reparation

4) punishment

5) apology

6) forgiveness

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political reconciliation should be conceived as

the building/rebuilding of trust (Govier, Verwoerd)

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social trust is indispensable to orderly, creative, and prosperous societies

Putnam, Fukuyama (social capital)

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example of rebuilding trust

france/germany & US/germany post WW2 + international institutions = social/political solidarity

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2 approaches to national reconciliation (Michael Feher)

1) purists - HR activists

2) pragmatists - gov officials

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1) purists

- demand accountability for healing

crime exposed, stigmatized, punished -> justice, rule of law, dem inst -> peace, reconciliation

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2) pragmatists

- reconciliation as a precondition for the consolidation of democracy and rule of law

- amnesty, forgiveness -> peace, reconciliation -> justice, rule of law, dem inst

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is reconciliation the cause or the effect?

both

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dominant way reconciliation is practiced

first justice, then peace -> states' primary moral task = justice

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problems with "justice first"

1. conditions of strict justice are never fully realized.

2. national unity takes less priority

3. justice does not necessarily create community, empathy and compassion do.

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nuremberg trials

sought to identify and punish major offenders, then pursue communal reconciliation through slow process of building democratic institutions

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3 aspects of political reconciliation

1) retributive justice

2) restorative justice

3) political forgiveness

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bases of retributive justice

when offenses are committed, moral and legal equality is destroyed.

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how to restore moral equality according to retributive justice

public condemnation of offenders -> victims regain moral status

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retributive justice paradigm

political communities can only be sustained if wrongdoing is prosecuted. this is the obligation of states

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what happens when states fail to fulfill their obligation to retributive justice

the international community should take action

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challenges of retributive justice

evidence, political instability, prosecuting offenders

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case study for retributive justice

prosecuting rwanda's genocide offenders

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rwanda history

- tutsi and hutu

- 1962 independence -> hutu power, redressed inequalities, reverse discrimination against tutsi

- 1980s: Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF- Tutsi force)

- 1993: Arusha Accords - ceasefire between gov (Hutu) and RPF

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rwanda genocide

- 1994 april-july: 800,000 dead

- rw justice system totally destroyed

- rw govt courts: too many detained

- gacaca

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problems with gacaca

- no impartiality/legal protection

- easily manipulated, forms new injustices

- tutsi war crimes are exempted

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ICTR - International Crime Tribunal for Rwanda

- considered to have low/no impact on rwanda in the social/political context

- very inefficient, $40 mil per detainee

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restorative justice

- healing and restoration rather than punishment

- restoration of communal bonds through social/political reconciliation

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restorative justice does not forget the past

1) describes truth of past offenses

2) encourages to admit guilt

3) expressing repentance

4) expressing remorse

5) reparation + restitution

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strategy of restorative justice

1. moral equality restored

2. political renewal

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1. moral equality restored

- offenders acknowledge responsibility, are prepared for legal punishments

- victims refrain from vengeance, acknowledge empathy, are liberated of anger

- forgiveness leads to political reconciliation

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2. political renewal

individual forgiveness extended to community level

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case study for restorative justice

south african apartheid

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strategy taken in south africa

restorative justice through truth telling

- conditional amnesty to those who fully confessed

- priority was the healing of victims + restoration of communal bonds

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1995 truth commission TRC divided into

1. HR Violations Committee

2. Amnesty Committee

3. Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee

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ethics of the TRC - restorative justice paradigm questioned

- model undermines core societal norms, such as accountability, blame, and punishment

- minimizes memory of apartheid (john dugard)

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ethics of reconciliation / restorative justice

- reconciliation = illegitimate public policy goal

- reconciliation - undemocratic doctrine threatening HR -> reconciliation through democracy, dem does not lead to communal solidarity, first unity then dem then reconciliation

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is truth important?

yes. it advances healing and restores communal bonds

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TRC critics

- is truth healing?

- no distinction between state vs ANC atrocities

- conditional amnesty - offensive to HR activists

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political forgiveness

accepting/admitting wrongs of past, overcomes past through repentance and reconciliation

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elements of political forgiveness

1) complete, public truth-telling

2) leaders express public contrition (monetary, genuine)

3) victim acknowledges contrition without vengeance/retribution

4) reconciliation

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why TRC are not political forgiveness?

- pursued accountability through truth telling

- offenders did not confess voluntarily (was incentivized)

- provided amnesty

- TRC is multidimensional strategy that seeks to restore legal, social, cultural, political, spiritual life

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case study for political forgiveness

the bitburg dilemma

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the issue with the bitburg visit was not politics, but

good and evil

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why do critics argue regain should not have visited bitburg?

remembering is more important than reconciliation, history is more significant than forgiving

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consequentialist logic of decision

- cancellation would have jeopardized us-ge relations, hurt ge leadership

- blessing in disguise, as it made millions aware