2015-01-22 (Thu) 14:40-16:00 Seminar on Transitional Justice in Post-Arab Spring North Africa
"Revolutionary Justice vs Partial Justice: Making Sense of Transitional Justice in Libya and Tunisia"
Joint presentation
Dr. Christopher K. Lamont (Specially Appointed Associate Professor, OSIPP, Osaka University, and Assistant Professor, University of Groningen)
Dr. Mietek Budszynski (Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations, Pomona College)
Date/Time : 22 January 2015, Thursday, 14:40-16:00
Venue : OSIPP Building, 3rd floor, Multimedia Room (Toyonaka Campus, Osaka University)
Language : English (No Translation)
** Anyone is welcome
Contact and inquiry: Akihisa Matsuno, OSIPP Professor
Phone: 06-6850-5646
Email: matsuno*osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp (please change * to @)
- The seminar is supported by the Osaka University's Grant for Short-term International Joint Research and Kakenhi (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research) C: Politicide Studies in the Cold-War Asia (Matsuno).
In the immediate aftermath of the January 14, 2011 Tunisian revolution, exclusionary demands for justice emerged as long repressed opposition groups sought accountability for a myriad of abuses dating back to Tunisian independence. However, despite the emergence of these demands for accountability, Tunisia’s major post revolutionary political parties, including the Islamist Ennahdha movement, rejected harsh justice measures, such as political exclusion, in favor of inclusive approaches to transitional justice. In short, Tunisia’s experience with transitional justice, which evolved from a deeply polarizing practices centered around retribution to a more consensus driven truth-seeking project, begs the question: what explains Tunisia’s compromise justice? And, what form will transitional justice take following Nida Tounes’ electoral triumph in 2014? This paper will explore these questions through a study of debates on lustration and political isolation in post-revolutionary Tunisia.
Why have efforts at transitional justice in Libya fallen short, replaced instead by a draconian and divisive exclusion law? I will argue that a climate of revolutionary legitimacy has prevailed in Libya, further complicating the delivery of justice by the extremely weak state. I will show how “political isolation” as a harsh form of transitional justice rose to prominence in the context of intense post-Qadhafi battles between different political camps and notions of legitimacy and has contributed to the chaos that engulfs Libya three years after Qadhafi’s demise. Indeed, an analysis of the struggle for justice in Libya sheds light on the roots of the troubled transition itself.
(2015/01/19)
