Balancing Justice and Social Unity: Political Theory and the Idea of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
![handle is hein.journals/utlj49 and id is 327 raw text is: BALANCINGJUSTICE AND SOCIAL UNITY:
POLITICAL THEORY AND THE IDEA OF A TRUTH
AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSIONt
I Introduction: The moral defensibility of the idea of the TRC
The so-called 'third wave' of democratization, which occurred from the
1970s and through the 1980s, has brought with it a novel institutional
response to the injustices and evils perpetrated and encouraged by
predecessor regimes. 'Truth commissions' have emerged in Latin Ame-
rica and Africa as an alternative to full prosecution of offenders, on the
one hand, and unconditional amnesty, on the other. Advocates of these
institutions generally take the view that some form of recognition and
disclosure of past offences is necessary if the new democracies are to
distance themselves from the past and thus establish their legitimacy.
However, they also argue that a commitment to full prosecution through
the criminal justice system or through war crimes trials would be equally
threatening to the new democracies by provoking hostility and division.
In the circumstances of the recent transitions to democracy, 'transitional
justice,' and the goal of democratization, it is suggested, require some-
thing different from the demands of strict retributive justice. Skeptical
critics, on the other hand, have argued that this amounts to making a
virtue out of necessity - or more correctly, out of a particular (and
perhaps mistaken) judgement concerning necessity. On this view, truth
commissions are merely political compromises, institutions spawned by
an unprincipled negotiation of a transfer of power. Justice becomes the
casualty of a political calculation.
What are we to think of this disagreement? Does the very idea of a
truth commission involve a sacrifice of justice to expediency? Some
survivors of past attacks and families of victims clearly think so. Recently,
Michael Walzer commented that these individuals .make 'elemental
claims for retributive justice' and object to the spectacle of torturers and
state-sponsored killers walking free and effectively unpunished.' The
* Ph.D. candidate, Department of Politics, Princeton University.
t I wish to thank the following individuals for comments, criticisms, and assistance:
Bruce Chapman, Aurelian Craiutu, David Crocker, Andr6 du Toit, David Dyzenhaus,
Jennifer Llewellyn, Brenda Lyshaug, Grant Parker,Jason Scorza, Chandra Sriram, and
Wilhelm Verwoerd. Any remaining mistakes are solely my responsibility.
1 M. Walzer, 'The Hard Questions:Judgment Days' New Republic (15 December 1997) 13
[hereinafter 'Hard Questions].' For a discussion of some of the earlier criticisms of
the TRC, see J. Sarkin, 'The Trials and Tribulations of South Africa's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission' (1996) 12 S.A.J.H.R. 626.
J 999), 49 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LAwjouRNAL 315
Jonathan Allen*](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/utlj49&div=22&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Balancing Justice and Social Unity: Political Theory and the Idea of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
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