Achieving sustainable peace in post conflict societies : an evaluation of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflictsocieties using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commissionis investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth andReconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate therelationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesisanalyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether thereare any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC throughits Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely'to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8,paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of theSouth African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim ofachieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is furtheranalysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitionaljustice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal withthe issue of sustainable peace.This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contributeto a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is arguedthat this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the FinalReport mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding andmacro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC'stheoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- andmacro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the SouthAfrican case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truthfinding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towardssustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung's positive peace andLederach's structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achievesustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theoryThis thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflictsocieties using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commissionis investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth andReconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate therelationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesisanalyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether thereare any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC throughits Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely'to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8,paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of theSouth African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim ofachieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is furtheranalysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitionaljustice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal withthe issue of sustainable peace.This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contributeto a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is arguedthat this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the FinalReport mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding andmacro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC'stheoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- andmacro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the SouthAfrican case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truthfinding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towardssustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung's positive peace andLederach's structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achievesustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theoryThis thesis explores whether sustainable peace can be achieved in post-conflictsocieties using the transitional justice approach. In particular, the truth commissionis investigated as a mechanism of transitional justice. The South African Truth andReconciliation Commission (TRC) was selected as a case study to investigate therelationship between sustainable peace and transitional justice. This thesisanalyses whether the TRC Commission followed its mandate, and whether thereare any specific definitions, conclusions or recommendations that the TRC throughits Final Report undertakes in order to fulfill a specific part of the mandate, namely'to ensure that there would be no repetition of the past (TRC vol. 5, chap. 8,paragraph 14). This is done through a textual analysis of the Final Report of theSouth African TRC, where inherent weaknesses of the Final Report in its aim ofachieving sustainable peace are read critically and deconstructively. It is furtheranalysed through linking the issue of sustainable peace to the field of transitionaljustice and the study of political development on how future TRCs can deal withthe issue of sustainable peace.This thesis comes to the conclusion that the South African TRC failed to contributeto a significant analysis of how to prevent the repetition of the past. It is arguedthat this is based on a lack of a coherent theoretical framework, as the FinalReport mixes two different truth finding mechanisms: micro-truth finding andmacro-truth finding, together with the just war theory. By analysing the TRC'stheoretical framework through textual analysis, it becomes clear that micro- andmacro-truth finding is difficult to combine in one report, and that in the SouthAfrican case the micro-truth finding part is prioritised. However, the macro-truthfinding mechanism would have provided a more in depth analysis towardssustainable peace – which in this thesis is read as Galtung's positive peace andLederach's structural peace – and is a necessary prerequisite in order to achievesustainable peace. Also the use of a traditional reading of the just war theory contributes to an individualisation of the truth finding process and does notsufficiently support the macro-truths. Finally, by deconstructing the term neveragain it is shown that this approach should not be used in the TRCs or in the widerfield of transitional justicev

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University