Main Content
Politics of Reparations of Victim Organisations in Transitional Justice Processes
While international research on transitional justice has increasingly focussed on the role of victims and their institutional involvement in dealing with the past of violence in recent years, there have so far been few studies on selective compensation practices in transitional justice processes. Against this background, the project is dedicated to the reparation policies of victims’ groups and examines the positions that victims’ organisations take with regard to material compensation and the means by which they enforce these claims against governments. We compare reparations policies in four cases, each representing different types of violence: Guatemala (anti-regime conflicts), Morocco (state repression), Northern Ireland (identity-based conflicts) and Timor-Leste (secessionist conflicts). The aim of the project is to use process tracing to identify causal factors that are responsible for the compensation of victims in dealing with different histories of violence.
Duration: 2020-2026
Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Team: Prof. Dr. Bonacker, Pia Falschebner, Kim Baudewijns, Dr. Eva Willems, Juvita Pereira Faria, Carlotta Rudolph, Ida Forbriger, Elisabeth Winterer, Emily Kühnberger
Publications
Bonacker, Thorsten (2025) Classification and Compensation: How the Conflict Type Shapes Reparations in Post-War Justice. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 1–22. DOI: 10.1080/17502977.2025.2492937
Falschebner, Pia, Eva Willems and Thorsten Bonacker (2024) Collective Agency in Reparation Politics: A Contentious Politics Perspective on Victim Mobilisation in Northern Ireland. Global Society, pp. 1-28. DOI: 10.1080/13600826.2024.2428173
Willems, Eva (2022) Concealment, Coexistence, and Citizenship: (Post-)Conflict Strategies of Survival and Inclusion in Sacsamarca, Peru. Memory Studies 15 (4). pp. 898-917. DOI: 10.1177/17506980221094520
Willems, Eva (2022) Statthalter in Zeiten von Krieg und Frieden. Die Rolle der „Comités de Autodefensa Civil“ in Peru. In: Wissenschaft und Frieden 2022 (01), 22-24.
De Waardt, Mijke & Eva Willems (2022) Recipients Versus Participants: Politics of Aid and Victim Representation in Transitional Justice Practices in Peru. Human Rights Quarterly 44 (2), pp. 339-363. DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2022.0012