Violence, law and the (im)possibility of transitional justice

The requirements of transitional justice are increasingly institutionalised in international law and policy,creating a clearly defined model. However a range of critical perspectives have also been brought to bear on the emergent policy and practice of transitional justice.These critiques have highlighted the blind spots and the ways in which the model of transitional justice itself has set the boundaries of inclusion and exclusion in the transitional space.

The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the impact that the institutionalisation of the ‘field’ has had on transitional justice discourse. Using the work of Jacques Derrida, and ‘deconstructing’ the model of transitional justice, the thesis builds on existing critiques to expound at a theoretical level the relationship between the concepts of violence, law and justice that underpin the field. It asks whether as a ‘field’ transitional justice continues to accommodate divergent perspectives, or whether the effect of the institution of transitional justice in international law and policy has been to create a bounded ‘theatrical space’ within which efforts at post conflict peace making must play out.