Premium
Beyond Legalism: Towards a Thicker Understanding of Transitional Justice
Author(s) -
McEvoy Kieran
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of law and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.263
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1467-6478
pISSN - 0263-323X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2007.00399.x
Subject(s) - legalism (western philosophy) , transitional justice , scholarship , economic justice , human rights , political science , law , humility , sociology , law and economics , politics
The field of transitional justice is increasingly characterized by the dominance of legalism to the detriment of both scholarship and practice. The first part of the paper examines what is meant by legalism and its consequences in the field through a number of overlapping themes: ‘legalism as seduction’, the ‘triumph’ of human rights, and the tendency towards ‘seeing like a state’. The second part considers a number of correctives to such leanings which are analysed as encouraging legal humility, exploring the human rights as development axis, and finally developing a criminology of transitional justice. As law's place at the heart of transition from conflict is now secure, the time is right for a more honest appraisal of the limitations of legalism and a correspondingly greater willingness to countenance the role of other [non‐legal] actors and forms of knowledge. ‘Letting go of legalism’ will both thicken the subject and deliver more effective change on the ground.