Peace Versus Justice?: The Dilemmas of Transitional Justice in Africa

This book offers fresh insights on the `justice versus peace' dilemma, examining the challenges and prospects for promoting both peace and accountability, specifically in African countries affected by conflict or political violence. Peace versus Justice? draws on the expertise of many insider analysts, individuals who are not only authorities on transitional accountability processes, but who have participated in them, whether as legal practitioners or commissioners. This volume examines the wide array of experiences with transitional justice both within and outside states on the continent, spanning a range of countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Mozambique, Sudan, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. While the primary focus is on processes in Africa, many of the contributors also draw on lessons from earlier processes elsewhere in the world, particularly Latin America.

The chapters in this volume consider a wide range of approaches to accountability and peacebuilding. These include not only domestic courts and tribunals, hybrid tribunals, or the International Criminal Court, but also truth commissions and informal or non-state justice and conflict resolution processes. Taken together, they demonstrate the wealth of experiences and experimention in transitional justice processes on the continent.

Chandra Lekha Sriram is Professor of Human Rights at the School of Law, University of East London, United Kingdom. She is also the Chair of the International Studies Association Human Rights Section and consults on issues of governance and conflict prevention for the United Nations Development Programme.
Suren Pillay is a Senior Lecture in the Department of Political Studies at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, and a Senior Research Specialist in the Democracy and Governance programme of the Human Sciences Research Council.