Beyond Peace vs. Justice: Assessing Transitional Justice’s Impact on Enduring Peace using Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Previous studies of the effects of transitional justice measures on post-conflict societies, specifically the longevity of emerging peace, have reached different conclusions, owing in part to whether they are large-n or small-n studies. We propose an alternative methodological approach, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), to address the controversy. QCA allows researchers to harness the qualitative depth of case studies, yet also facilitates broad cross-national comparison. Using the Post-Conflict Justice dataset, we show how QCA reveals several pathways societies can take to enduring peace. These depend on characteristics of the preceding conflict, differences in the post-conflict conditions, and the transitional justice measures implemented. This complexity-orientated approach shows that restorative and retributive justice measures, as well as amnesties, can have positive effects on post-conflict peace, although these effects are different depending on the conflict situations and the varying context conditions.