Conference on Transitional Justice and Alternative Mechanisms for Peace, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Oct 27, 2015 → Apr 12, 2016
Conference on Transitional Justice and Alternative Mechanisms for Peace
Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies, South Africa
8th – 9th April, 2016
Hosted by the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace, and the University of Johannesburg
Keynote speakers:
Christian Barry (ANU)
Thaddeus Metz (Johannesburg)
Cara Nine (University College, Cork)
In the aftermath of conflict, states sometimes resort to methods of ‘transitional justice’ to deal with the legacy of widespread human rights abuses. Some of these measures, such as South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), are non-judicial in nature, focusing on uncovering the truth concerning atrocities and fostering reconciliation in broken communities. South Africa’s TRC is generally hailed as a success. But its critics have objected to, amongst other things, the conditions for granting amnesties, the failure of perpetrators to show remorse, and a failure to offer victims a genuine opportunity to speak about their experiences. These concerns generalize to others forms of non-judicial mechanisms for peace. More generally, transitional justice concerns, amongst other things, punishment, collective responsibility, fair reparations, and forgiveness.
While lawyers, policy-makers, and criminologists have done a substantial amount of work on these topics, philosophers have published comparatively little. This conference thus aims to explore theoretical approaches to these issues in philosophy and political theory. In addition to the keynote addresses, there will be an invited panel on the legitimacy of amnesties.
There are up to twelve sessions available for submitted papers. Possible paper topics include (but are not limited to):
The legitimacy of amnesties
The concept of crimes against humanity
The legitimacy and effectiveness of non-judicial tribunals (e.g. Truth and Reconciliation Commissions)
The nature of transitional justice
Reparations
Punishment and responsibility
The authority and jurisdiction of international criminal courts
Forgiveness
The rights of victims
The concept of reconciliation
Submitted papers should be no longer than 6000 words, and suitable for presentation in no more than 35 minutes. Authors of accepted papers will have the cost of their conference meals and three nights’ accommodation covered. However, please note that all participants are responsible for their own travel costs. Submissions and enquiries should be emailed to Conference.
There are plans to publish either an edited collection or journal symposium from the papers: please note that submission of your paper constitutes agreement to give us first refusal on publication if it is accepted for presentation. The deadline for submissions is the 5th of January, 2016.