Peace versus justice? : the dilemma of transitional justice in Africa /

Transitional justice (TJ), the pursuit of legal accountability and peace following systematic human rights abuses, has generated significant scholarship in the past two decades as states have sought to confront crimes while consolidating legitimate political institutions. This collection of essays on African truth commissions and war crimes tribunals makes an important contribution to this developing literature. The 17 essays address general conceptual issues--such as the tension between prosecution and pardon, and amnesia and truth-telling--and offer case studies, such as war crimes tribunals for Sierra Leone and Rwanda, indigenous justice in Mozambique and Rwanda, and truth commissions in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. Although some redundancy exists among the essays, the book provides a rich source of data on the most significant TJ initiatives in Africa since South Africa established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the mid 1990s. Since many of the authors were directly involved in the initiatives, their analyses provide a realistic yet nuanced assessment of the challenges and trade-offs involved in pursuing both justice and peace. This edited book will be of special interest to scholars concerned with international justice, war crimes tribunals, African politics, and political reconciliation. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduate students and above. M. Amstutz Wheaton College