Deweyan Pragmatism and the Challenge of Institutionalizing Justice under Transitional Circumstances
Keywords:
Dewey, justice, democracy, institutions, state violence, reconciliation, pragmatism, international relationsAbstract
For the past thirty years, the Transitional Justice (TJ) research program has been undergoing a period of transition, simultaneously expanding and consolidating; in one sense, expanding its scope to encompass the measurement of TJ’s impact and the redefinition of ‘transitional’ to include societies afflicted by deep social and economic
injustice; and in a second sense, consolidating its practical approach to the promotion of democracy and peace, by developing best practices for institutionalizing TJ. While there have been advances in designing new TJ mechanisms and remedying the concept’s under-theorization, little comparative progress has been made, to date, in offering a guiding framework for TJ’s push to institutionalize. The thesis of this article
is that philosophical pragmatism, specifically Deweyan pragmatism, offers a bevy of resources —a virtual tool-kit— for scholars and practitioners wishing to design TJfriendly institutions within transitional societies.
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