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This article clarifies the origins of the field of transitional justice and its preliminary conceptual boundaries. I argue that the field began to emerge in the late 1980s, as a consequence of new practical conditions that human rights activists faced in countries such as Argentina, where authoritarian regimes had been replaced by more democratic ones. The turn away from "naming and shaming" and toward accountability for past abuse among human rights activists was taken up at the international level, where the focus on political change as "transition to democracy" helped to legitimate those claims to justice that prioritized legal-institutional reforms and responses—such as punishing leaders, vetting abusive security forces, and replacing state secrecy with truth and transparency—over other claims to justice that were oriented toward social justice and redistribution. I end by discussing the many ways in which these initial conceptual boundaries have since been tested and expanded.

A review essay on books by (1) Ludo De Witte, The Assassination of Lumumba (Ann Wright & Renee Fenby [Trs], New York: Verso, 2001); & (2) David Macey, Frantz Fanon (New York: Picador, 2001). The reviewer of these two books bases her commentary on the notion of Third Worldism as an ideology & failed political practice. Macey's superb biography makes a compelling case for Fanon's humanism & his debt to Sartrean "commitment." De Witte's book, despite its title, is more an examination of neocolonialism & decolonization in Africa than a political biography. Lumumba's murder is viewed through a prism of Congolese political upheaval & Belgian complicity, both of which are painstakingly documented. De Witte's endorsement of Third Worldism as embodied by Lumumba reveals a somewhat dated radicalism; the reviewer prefers the more compelling & complex views on neocolonialism & decolonization articulated in other recent works. She speculates on the legacy of Third Worldism, especially its impact on antiglobalization & Islamic terrorist movements. Reexamination of Fanon & Lumumba is a valuable point of departure for understanding the postcolonial experience in Africa. K. Coddon

Introduces a roundtable discussion on the effects of the September 11 (2001) terrorist attacks. Critical thinking about terrorism & the US response is needed.