Justice,Human Rights,and Reconciliation in Postconflict Cambodia

Retribution? Restitution? Reconciliation? “Justice” comes in many forms as witnessed by the spike in war crimes tribunals, Truth &; Reconciliation Commissions, hybrid tribunals and genocide trials. Which, if any form is appropriate should be influenced by the culture of the people affected. It took Cambodia over three decades to finally address the ghosts of its Khmer Rouge past with the creation of a hybrid Khmer Rouge Tribunal. But how meaningful is justice to the majority of survivors of the Khmer Rouge auto-genocide when only a handful of top officials are tried? Further, given the persistent abuse of political and economic rights in post-conflict Cambodia, we are skeptical that justice or reconciliation is presently possible.     

Liberty and development: A further empirical perspective

This paper uses the Wright ratings of economic freedom to investigate the relationship between economic freedom and economic development for most countries in the world. This relationship is apparently strong and direct for such economic freedoms as freedom of property and freedom of movement but inverse for freedom of association. These findings appear to be independent of the type of economic system or civil liberties, as measured by the Gastil ratings, which have their own important effects on economic development.With the statistical assistance of Laurie D. Still. Comments on previous drafts by Iraj Aberdian, Merle Holden, Brian Kantor, John W. Kendrick, Peter Kennedy, Jack Knetsch, Chris Lingle, Denton Marks, Peter Moll, Frank Vorhies, an anonymous referee, and the participants of seminars at the University of Cape Town, the University of Natal and Simon Fraser University are gratefully acknowledged.     

Human Rights Politics and Injustice: Transitional Justice in Argentina and South Africa

Transitional justice is about the recovery of the rule of lawand justice after mass violence. In the recent history of Argentinaand South Africa, human rights politics have played an importantrole in the transition from repression to democracy as a discourseof resistance to state repression and as a framework and methodologyfor the successor state to manage demands for justice and promotereconciliation. Post-transition, they have provided a standardfor the accountability of state institutions and evaluationof the democratic government's performance. In this article,we explore the roles of victims, survivors and relatives inthe expansion of human rights politics. We argue that victimsrepresent their suffering as embodied injustice and make theirvictim identity the focus of efforts to recover a moral contractbetween state and citizens. The expansion of human rights politicsto include social and economic rights is an expression of thelimits of transitional justice in recovering full citizenshipin the context of the neo-liberal democratic project in Argentinaand South Africa.     

Constructing and Deconstructing Liberty: A Feminist and Poststructuralist Analysis

Debates about liberty have been dominated by discussion about the relationship between its negative and positive conceptions. In accepting this framework, political theorists have left unquestioned certain foundational ideas that both concepts share but which actully constrain our thinking about freedom. This relates in particular to subjectivity and our assumptions about the free self. This critique uses feminist and poststructuralist approaches and explores the implications of the spatial metaphors which both concepts of liberty invoke.     

Human Rights Reporting: Rights,Responsibilities, and Challenges

This essay critically examines the intersections between news media and human rights in the context of the existing human rights framework. A survey of the fundamental provisions of international human rights law and of the evolving case law of human rights organs relating to media freedom and responsibilities reveals that existing gaps and underspecified obligations render problematic the normative guidance offered by the framework in addressing the pertinent human rights issues. However, this is part of the story. The problems associated with normative guidance are compounded by media practitioners’ contending approaches on the role of the media as “promoters of human rights.” The interplay between these factors is then examined through the prism of the two communities’ converging commitment to “truth-seeking.” This commitment can provide entry points to a more constructive engagement between the news media and the human rights community.     

Seeking Life, Finding Justice: Russian NGO litigation and Chechen Disappearances before the European Court of Human Rights

This article presents findings from an interview study of human rights practitioners who assist relatives of the disappeared from Chechnya with their complaints before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). These practitioners work for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The study contributes to the scant literature on NGO litigation before the ECtHR and to the social scientific literature on how human rights are actively practiced. It investigates the NGOs?? intermediary position between the ECtHR and the relatives of the disappeared in Chechnya. Consequently, this article asserts that a significant aspect of this position lies in the practitioner??s capacity to mediate between an ambition to externalize local grievances to the ECtHR and the relatives?? hopes that the ECtHR can bring certainty to the uncertain loss of their disappeared relatives. From this position, several dilemmas emerge as to how international legal mechanisms can provide remedies following disappearances.