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The contributions that national & international civil society can make to nations' realization of transitional justice are pondered. An overview of the challenges posed by transitional justice emphasizes three things that any transitional justice movement must consider, eg, the contextual specificity of each nation's transition to democracy. Eight objectives to be accomplished in achieving transitional justice are identified, including the ascription of past wrongdoing to proper groups & the promotion of public deliberation about past collective misconduct. After reviewing competing models of civil society, several things that civil society can do to encourage transitional justice are discussed, eg, the use of civil society groups to evaluate historical violations of people's human rights & to substantiate state wrongdoing; nevertheless, several caveats against using national civil society to promote transitional justice are offered. In addition, the role played by international civil society in facilitating the achievement of transitional justice is studied; specifically, it is claimed that global civil society can bolster national civil society groups & temporarily replace certain social & political institutions. J. W. Parker

This essay formulates eight goals that have emerged from worldwide moral deliberation on "transitional justice" and that may serve as a useful framework when particular societies consider how they should reckon with violations of internationally recognized human rights. These goals include: truth, a public platform for victims, accountability and punishment, the rule of law, compensation to victims, institutional reform and long-term development, reconciliation, and public deliberation.These eight goals are used to identify and clarify (1) the variety of ethical issues that emerge in reckoning with past wrongs, (2) widespread agreements about initial steps for resolving each issue, (3) leading options for more robust solutions of each issue, and (4) ways to weight or trade off the norms when they conflict. The aim is to show that there are crucial moral aspects in reckoning with the past and to clarify, criticize, revise, apply, and diffuse eight moral norms. These goals are not a "one-size-fits-all" blueprint but rather a framework by which societies confronting past atrocities can decide–through cross-cultural and critical dialogue–what is most important to accomplish and the morally best ways to do so.

Discusses the challenge of transitional justice for emerging democracies & evaluates a variety of tools that might be employed to acheive it. Transitional justice is defined as the effort to deal with human rights abuses perpetrated by former authoritarian regimes. Such justice may serve as closure on the former regime, a platform for victims to seek redress, an ascription of responsibility, a platform for public deliberation, reconciliation, a resource for constructing new laws & institutions, & a beginning toward the promotion of healthy long-term changes. It is suggested that civil society may provide the best arena through which to attain these objectives. Three models of civil society are considered: antigovernmental, associative, & the public sphere. Various instances of the use of civil society in pursuit of transitional justice, eg in Guatemala, Chile, & South Africa, are briefly discussed. It is concluded that international civil society may also play a crucial role in the pursuit of transitional justice in emerging democracies. D. Ryfe

International development ethics is moral reflection on the ends and means of societal and global change. Who should engage in this activity and how should it be done? Should only citizens of a given nation reflect on, and morally evaluate, that country's development goals and strategies? Or do foreigners have a contribution to make as well? Crocker answers these questions by first briefly discussing and critiquing the context within which these questions are frequently debated, namely the ethnocentrism/anti-ethnocentrism and particularism/universalism controversies. He explains the distinction between social insiders and outsiders arguing that in development ethics there are advantages and disadvantages to being both. He urges development ethicists to cultivate a mixture of insider/outsider perspectives, beginning and ending in their own groups, but learning from and benefitting others in the process. Crocker concludes that international and regional progress are closely interrelated. Universalists and ethnocentrists must converge to "think and act globally, regionally, nationally, and locally."