No Future Without (Personal) Forgiveness: Reexamining the Role of Forgiveness in Transitional Justice

This article discusses the political possibilities of personal forgiveness in transitional justice. Personal forgiveness is extended by a single human victim who has been harmed by a wrongdoer. The victim forgives only that harm which has been done to him or to her. Personal forgiveness is distinguishable from three other forms of forgiveness: group forgiveness, legal forgiveness (a form of group forgiveness), and political forgiveness. In the context of transitional justice, I argue that: (1) personal forgiveness is a necessary condition for political forgiveness; (2) group forgiveness (including legal forgiveness), while not without a normative function, cannot effectuate either personal or political forgiveness, and (3) personal forgiveness requires a shared narrative framework to lead to political forgiveness. These assertions lead to two further observations. First, because the state has a normative role in its (limited) capacity to forgive on its own behalf and a practical role in its ability to spread and to transmit a shared narrative framework, the state is an important actor in political forgiveness. Second, because the primary historical example of political forgiveness in transitional justice is the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that unfolded within an explicitly Christian theological framework, it may be that the shared narrative framework need be religious or even Christian in nature.

论实现公平正义的制度环境及其政府职能

建设公平正义的社会主义和谐社会已经成为当前中国共产党重要的执政理念和社会发展目标。对当前西方较具代表性的公平正义观之理论检视表明,这些公平正义观均有其内在矛盾性,而当下中国的基本制度环境则为破解这些矛盾,实现全面、协调、科学的公平正义观提供了可能性。基于操作层面的分析昭示,当下中国政府公共职能定位与配置的思路在于将权利保障法治化、公共服务均等化、再分配合理化。     

制衡资本权力——转型中国确保制度正义的关键

正义是政治的首要原则,社会基本结构的正义性是人类政治文明的核心表征。人类政治文明的发展历程充分表明,缺乏制衡的国家权力和资本权力往往成为现代社会中根本的压迫性力量。在中国政治发展的特定情势下,制衡资本权力逐渐成为转型中国政治发展的关键命题,是转型中国确保制度正义的关键。当然,有效规训资本权力的过程不单纯是一个企业主动承担社会责任的过程,更是一个涉及各个利益相关者之间平等博弈、公共协商和理性妥协的政治过程。在集中讨论转型中国制衡资本权力的现实必要性和基本途径的基础上,提出:在转型中国,制衡资本权力与构建正义的社会制度体系之间存在着密切联系,而国家自主、社会自治与价值均衡则共同成为有效制衡资本权力的前提条件。