Transitional Justice in Latin America

This book addresses current developments in transitional justice in Latin America – effectively the first region to undergo concentrated transitional justice experiences in modern times. Using a comparative approach, it examines trajectories in truth, justice, reparations, and amnesties in countries emerging from periods of massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The book analyses the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, developing and applying a common analytical framework to provide a systematic, qualitative, and comparative analysis of their transitional justice experiences. More specifically, the book investigates to what extent there has been a shift from impunity towards accountability for past human rights violations in Latin America. Using ‘thick’, but structured, narratives – which allow patterns to emerge, rather than being imposed – the book assesses how the quality, timing, and sequencing of transitional justice mechanisms, along with the context in which they appear, have mattered for the nature and impact of transitional justice processes in the region. Offering a new approach to assessing transitional justice, and challenging many assumptions in the established literature, this book will be of enormous benefit to scholars and others working in this area.

Elin Skaar is at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway.

Jemima García-Godos is at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway.

Cath Collins is at the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University, Northern Ireland, and Universidad Diego Portales, Chile.