Beyond the Binary of Exogenous and Endogenous Transitions: The International Governance of Transitional Justice in Georgia
Transitional Justice in a Reunified Korea: Peace-Building and Reconciliation, Palgrave Macmillan Ruti Teitel & Buhm Suk-Baek Ed, 2015, pp.153-174.
28 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2013 Last revised: 20 Jan 2022
Date Written: April 15, 2014
Abstract
"Democratic transitional justice is almost as old as democracy itself," points Jon Elster. Jon Elster distinguishes between exogenous and endogenous transitional justice, "the process of transitional justice may be either initiated by the new regime or carried out under the supervision of foreign power." The distinction between exogenous and endogenous transitional justice processes is now widely accepted in the transitional justice scholarship. This article has two objectives. First, it suggests that the move beyond the binary of endogenous and exogenous transitions is timely. The nuances of the relationship between external and endogenous actors are better captured as a continuum. At one end of the continuum one would place exogenous transitions, where it is the international actors that are primarily responsible for and involved in all major decisions in relation to transitional justice, including but not limited to prosecution. At the other end of the continuum would feature the processes of endogenous transitional justice, where domestic actors take major policy decisions. Many other primarily non-binding forms through which international actors play a role in endogenously originated transitions would be placed along the continuum depending upon the degree of the external actors’ participation.
Second, I support this argument by focusing on the international governance of domestically originated transitional justice processes. International organizations govern transitional justice process implemented by domestic actors through a variety of legally non-binding means, including statements and reports. By focusing on the case of EU governance of transitional justice in Georgia, this article enriches the perspectives with which transitional justice scholars analyze the activities of external actors.
Keywords: transitional justice, EU, governance, Georgia, international organizations, NGOs
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