Mara R. Revkin
Chapter forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Law and Authoritarianism, ed. Cora Chan, Madhav Khosla, Benjamin Liebman, and Mark Tushnet (2027)
Abstract
The field of transitional justice, which originated in post-Cold War transitions from authoritarianism and communism to democracy, has since grown to encompass a wide range of mechanisms and processes that address large-scale past abuses including prosecutions, truth commissions, and reparations. This Chapter describes an emerging phenomenon in which authoritarian regimes—historically, the targets of transitional justice processes implemented by successor democracies—have increasingly co-opted transitional justice language and institutions to advance political, ideological, and economic goals contrary to democracy and human rights. Examples include the use of trials, truth commissions, and other mechanisms to punish political opponents, control historical narratives, and attract foreign aid or investment. This Chapter examines patterns in the use of “transitional justice”-like institutions by autocracies and backsliding democracies in wide-ranging contexts including China, Poland, Rwanda, and Tunisia, explores grassroots transitional justice efforts by opposition and civil society actors working in the shadow of these states, and highlights open debates and questions for further research.
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