The forgotten factor—the impact of transitional justice on the development of the rule of law in processes of democratization

摘要

Until now, democracy research has hardly looked into how the handling of the previous regime’s human rights violations affects the ability of young democracies to consolidate. The article supports the assumption that the search for truth and justice only influences certain democratic partial regimes, and focuses on the Rule of Law dimension. While discussing possible effects of reconciliation work on the evolution of standards and institutions of the Rule of Law in theory, the article also points out the challenges of specifying and measuring the concepts pertaining to dependent and independent variables. Empirical analyses provide clear indications of a positive relationship between reconciliation work and the Rule of Law. The challenges of further research on the effect of transitional justice are examined in this light.