TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND PEACE PROCESSES

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the increasing role of transitional justice in world politics and on-going peace processes. The indisputable increase in such procedures has certainly encouraged a vigorous debate on their suitability to politically stabilise the countries, which have suffered a belligerent period. The theoretical framework of my work is based on the constructivist idea that international organizations have the capability to emancipate themselves from their origin of power, the states, and to define themselves as an independent actor in international politics, also helped by the intrinsic nature of bureaucracy. Thus, I develop a game theory model of the belief that behaviour of international and internal criminals is based on a principle of rational choice. I defend the concept of rational choice, which is affected by the environment where it is implemented. In particular, an environment, which is more aware of international and human rights, can positively affect peace talks. Uganda is the central case for various reasons. Above all else, Uganda is the first instance ever of a transitional justice – represented by the International Criminal Court – issuing warrants before the end of the conflict. Furthermore, Uganda has not been seriously influenced by world top powers and it lies in the Central Africa, where the most recent cases of transitional justice took place. As is evident from my studies, I see a clear change in Uganda situation widely thanks to the sensitizing role of the International Criminal Court. Unfortunately, at the moment of writing (April 2009), lasting peace seems still a long way off, but the situation has clearly improved since the involvement of the ICC in the conflict. Asiasanat:Transitional Justice Game Bayes ICC Uganda LRA Museveni Kony Acholi Ajwaki