Research at TJI

The Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) was established in 2003 to examine the role of law both in conflict situations and in transitions from conflict to peace.  The term ‘transitional justice’ has traditionally been understood to encompass the legal, moral and political dilemmas that arise in holding human rights abusers accountable at the end of conflict.  However, TJI research goes beyond the question of how to deal with past human rights abuses, to examine more broadly how law and legal institutions assist (or not) the move from conflict to peace.   The research of the TJI focuses on the connections between transitional justice and the rule of law in an approach that is echoed in the Report of the Secretary-General on the Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies.

Underpinning the research agenda of the Institute is the assumption that the role of law in situations of transition is different from that in other times.  In contrast to common understandings of the law as pro-active, prospective and related to well established notions of order, stability and community, the role of law in transitional situations is a less understood role of assisting in the transition from a situation of conflict to one of ‘peace’, perhaps better understood as non-violent conflict.

Thematic areas

TJI pursues its research agenda through theoretical and empirical work that seeks to transform and develop the theory and practice of transitional justice.  The research is developed through theoretical interrogation of concepts such as transitional justice and the rule of law (see Transitional justice: theoretical underpinnings).  This perspective underpins the development of five thematic areas of research undertaken by TJI staff discussed in the following sections: 

Conflict and law

Transformation of political participation and institutions

Transformation of legal institutions

Dealing with the past

Gender, conflict and transition

In addition, TJI has a number of special projects that cut across these themes.

Methodologies

TJI research utilizes three broad research methodologies across its thematic areas: 

• Theorizing key concepts
  
  TJI engages in ‘mid-level’ theorizing of transitional justice and related concepts such as democracy and human rights toward identifying practical responses to contemporary problems in transitional contexts. 
  
• Socio-legal research
  
  TJI research draws on range of social-science methodologies and epistemological debates to examine aspects of its research agenda.
  

• Doctrinal research
  
  TJI engages in research on core areas of doctrinal law such as refugee, human rights, and humanitarian law and fosters the application of new thinking in these areas to debates in transitional justice.