Transformative Justice: Remedying Human Rights Violations Beyond Transition(Transitional Justice)

Transitional justice mechanisms employed in post-conflict and post-authoritarian contexts have largely focused upon individual violations of a narrow set of civil and political rights, as well as the provision of legal and quasi-legal remedies, such as truth commissions, amnesties and prosecutions. In contrast, this book highlights the significance of structural violence in producing and reproducing rights violations. The book further argues that, in order to remedy structural violations of human rights, there is a need to utilise a different toolkit from that typically employed in transitional justice contexts. The book sets out and applies a definition of transformative justice as expanding upon, and providing an alternative to, transitional justice. Focusing on a comparative study of social movements, nongovernmental organisations and trade unions working on land and housing rights in South Africa, and their network relationships, the book argues that networks of this kind make an important contribution to processes advancing transformative justice.

Table of Contents:
Table of contents Lists of tables and figures Preface Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction Introduction Background and context Transitional justice and transformative justice in South Africa Land and housing Advocacy networks Action taken by networks Structure, composition, capacity and resources Positioning of NGOs, trade unions and social movements in South Africa Aims and objectives of the book Themes Focus Political responsibility Research design Case study research Limits of case study research The case study in this book Case selection and purpose Research strategy Research tools and methods Use of sociograms Scope and contribution of the study Structure of the book Structural violence, socioeconomic rights and transformative justice Introduction Structural violence and shortcomings of transitional justice Structural violence Critique of transitional justice Defining transformative justice Applying concepts to the case study of South Africa Relevant actors and relationships for a transformative approach Conclusion Network relationships, existing ties and opportunities Introduction The case study network Interpreting data on network relationships Mapping the network diagrammatically Interrogating assumptions from the literature Boomerangs and spirals Framing, expertise and venue shopping Key findings from mapping the network What kinds of ties already exist? The Housing Assembly The Poor People’s Alliance Ties between both clusters What threats to and opportunities for more effective collaboration exist? Specific characteristics of trade unions Capacity and resources of social movements and community based organisations Personalities, politics and organisational governance Shared rhetorical commitments Conclusion Threats, limitations and political responsibilities in the network Introduction The Housing Assembly and the Poor People’s Alliance Dividing political arenas Agenda setting and strategy building Raising and allocating financial resources Information Formalisation of relationships Transformative justice and political responsibilities of the network Dividing political arenas Agenda setting and strategy building Raising and allocating financial resources Information Formalisation of relationships Conclusion Transformative justice processes, policies and practice Introduction The scope for transformative justice policies, practices and processes in South Africa Lessons for understanding the potential for transformative justice policies and practices Mapping participation in the case study network Relationships within the case study network Evaluating political responsibility of the case study network Conclusion Processes of transformative justice Outcomes and resources Political responsibility and transformative justice Conclusion Introduction The importance of power and of political responsibilities Lessons for research and practice Key contributions of the book What this book does not do Concluding remarks INDEX

About the Author :
Matthew Evans is a Teaching Fellow in Law, Politics and Sociology at the School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, and Visiting Researcher in Political Studies at the School of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.