Post-Conflict Justice and Sustainable Peace

25 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Scott Gates

Scott Gates

Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) ; University of Oslo

Helga Malmin Binningsbo

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Tove Grete Lie

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Date Written: April 1, 2007

Abstract

No systematic study has examined the effect of post-conflict justice on the duration of peace on a global basis. This paper attempts to fill that void by building on a newly constructed dataset (Binningsbo, Elster, and Gates 2005), which reports the presence of various forms of post-conflict justice efforts (trials, purges, reparation to victims, and truth commissions) as well as processes associated with abstaining from post-conflict justice (amnesty and exile). It investigates the long-term effects of post-conflict justice on the duration of peace after conflict. It uses a Cox proportional hazard model to analyze the influence of the various types of post-conflict justice on the length of the peace period before the recurrence of violent conflict. Post-conflict trials as well as other types of justice do lead to a more durable peace in democratic as well as non-democratic societies, but the results are weak and are therefore difficult to generalize. Forms of non-retributive justice (that is, reparations to victims and truth commissions), however, are strongly associated with the duration of peace in democratic societies, but are not significant for non-democratic societies. Amnesty tends to be destabilizing and generally associated with shorter peace duration, but exile tends to lead to a more durable peace.

Keywords: Social Conflict and Violence, Post Conflict Reintegration, Peace & Peacekeeping, Corruption & Anitcorruption Law, Education and Society

Suggested Citation

Gates, Scott and Binningsbo, Helga Malmin and Lie, Tove Grete, Post-Conflict Justice and Sustainable Peace (April 1, 2007). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4191, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=979663

Scott Gates (Contact Author)

Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) ( email )

N-0260 Oslo
Norway
+472547732 (Phone)
+4722547701 (Fax)

University of Oslo

PO Box 6706 St Olavs plass
Oslo, N-0317
Norway

Helga Malmin Binningsbo

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) ( email )

Høgskoleringen
Trondheim NO-7491, 7491
Norway

Tove Grete Lie

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) ( email )

Høgskoleringen
Trondheim NO-7491, 7491
Norway

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,383
Abstract Views
4,931
Rank
26,198
PlumX Metrics