Transitional Justice in Nepal ― Interests, Victims and Agency

At the end of conflict there are multiple and competing demands. Calls for peace, stability, accountability, democracy, development and economic growth abound, but are viewed differently by different stakeholders. Transitional justice operates in this dynamic space seeking to deliver a gamut of objectives including peace, accountability, truth, reconciliation and justice.

This book examines transitional justice in Nepal. Nepal is attractive as a case because it sits somewhere in between, being an almost reluctant participant in the transitional justice process. Nepal’s situation might prove to be typical rather than exceptional depending on the approach taken to studying transitional justice. While seemingly little has been achieved, transitional justice interventions continue.Using a constructivist grounded theory, the author focuses on politics, participation and the everyday realities of people in post-conflict Nepal. She advocates for deeper critical analysis of the processes, voices, interests and agendas of transitional justice and a measured approach and tempered expectations of what transitional justice can deliver and for whom, particularly victims. Offering a renewed understanding of the inherent limitations of transitional justice, the book puts forward a grounded approach for the need to accept compromises in order for transitional justice to be a success, such as pursuing transitional justice processes that do not include certain institutions, thinking about transitional justice processes and recognising that for communities the material dimensions of life can be the priority of their post-conflict realities rather than revisiting the violence they have lived through. It also requires a broader sense of the stakeholders in transitional justice.

An innovative study of transitional justice, this book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars in this interdisciplinary field, including criminology, law, human rights, sociology, political science, peace and conflict studies and anthropology and South Asian Studies.

Yvette Selim is a lecturer in Development Studies, Sociology, International Relations and Qualitative Research Methods at the University of New South Wales, Australia.