Handbook

This intensive course explores the legal and other regulatory dimensions of transitions from dictatorships to democracies – from comparative and international perspectives. The course would be taught as a short overseas program in Chile, a country that experienced and emerged from one of the most brutal military dictatorships of the twentieth century.  This course will provide students with unique insight into how transitional justice processes happen on the ground, from critical and comparative perspectives, and taking into account the legal, social and political dimensions of transitional justice. While we anticipate the Latin American experience to be the backbone of the course, that experience will be discussed in contrast with experiences in Africa, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

This course is in the international law, human rights, criminal justice and dispute resolution streams and is available within the Master and Grad Dip of Dispute Resolution. Preference will be given to students who have not undertaken an overseas course within the UNSW postgraduate program.

Topics (non-exhaustive list of possible topics, pending availability of staff and guest speakers at University Diego Portales):

• Introduction to the Field of Transitional Justice
• Redemocratization and Political Reform in the Context of Transition
• Investigate, Prosecute and Punish: Approaches to the Criminalization of Atrocities in the Aftermath of Transition
• Truth and Reconciliation as an Alternative to Criminal Prosecutions
• The Transplantation of Transitional Justice Models across Jurisdictions
• Social Movements in the Transitional Process: the Roles of NGOs and Faith-Based Organizations
• The Impact of Transition on Public Policy: Environmental Law
• The Economics of Transitional Justice
•  Cultural Heritage Law, Memorialization and Transition