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Knowledge for Peace
Transitional Justice and the Politics of Knowledge in Theory and Practice
9781789905342 Edward Elgar Publishing
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Combining the knowledge and experience of leading international researchers, practitioners and policy consultants, Knowledge for Peace discusses how we identify, claim and contest the knowledge we have in relation to designing and analysing peacebuilding and transitional justice programmes. Exploring how knowledge in the field is produced, and by whom, the book examines the research-policy-practice nexus, both empirically and conceptually, as an important part of the politics of knowledge production.
Combining the knowledge and experience of leading international researchers, practitioners and policy consultants, Knowledge for Peace discusses how we identify, claim and contest the knowledge we have in relation to designing and analysing peacebuilding and transitional justice programmes. Exploring how knowledge in the field is produced, and by whom, the book examines the research-policy-practice nexus, both empirically and conceptually, as an important part of the politics of knowledge production.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
Combining the knowledge and experience of leading international researchers, practitioners and policy consultants, Knowledge for Peace discusses how we identify, claim and contest the knowledge we have in relation to designing and analysing peacebuilding and transitional justice programmes. Exploring how knowledge in the field is produced, and by whom, the book examines the research-policy-practice nexus, both empirically and conceptually, as an important part of the politics of knowledge production.
This unique book centres around two core themes: that processes of producing knowledge are imbued with knowledge politics, and that research-policy-practice interaction characterises the politics of knowledge and transitional justice. Investigating the realities of, and suggested improvements for, knowledge production and policy making processes as well as research partnerships, this book demonstrates that knowledge is contingent, subjective and shaped by relationships of power, affecting what is even imagined to be possible in research, policy and practice.
Providing empirical insights into previously under-researched case studies, this thought-provoking book will be an illuminating read for scholars and students of transitional justice, peacebuilding, politics and sociology.
This unique book centres around two core themes: that processes of producing knowledge are imbued with knowledge politics, and that research-policy-practice interaction characterises the politics of knowledge and transitional justice. Investigating the realities of, and suggested improvements for, knowledge production and policy making processes as well as research partnerships, this book demonstrates that knowledge is contingent, subjective and shaped by relationships of power, affecting what is even imagined to be possible in research, policy and practice.
Providing empirical insights into previously under-researched case studies, this thought-provoking book will be an illuminating read for scholars and students of transitional justice, peacebuilding, politics and sociology.
Critical Acclaim
‘The volume addresses an enduring conundrum in transitional justice as a field of study and an area of peacebuilding practice that concerns the political nature of knowledge production and its effects on justice for victims of war crimes. Contributors scrutinize the complexity of international versus local, state versus civil society, and normative versus structural dynamics. Critical theoretical perspectives with an eye to policy implications travel beyond the volume’s empirical focus on a range of cases of justice-seeking in Africa. New insights into how transitional justice can be done better and what better transitional justice means will be of interest to scholars and practitioners alike.’
– Denisa Kostovicova, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
‘In this book, Briony Jones and Ulrike Lühe have done what many academics and policy thinkers are reluctant to do – question orthodoxy in an area of thought that has acquired a high moral plateau. The book reveals a gaping chasm between what is known, and what is unknown about the theoretical underpinnings of transitional justice and the efficiency of the solutions it so confidently prescribes. It is a work that will give researchers, thinkers, and practitioners reason to pause and reflect. It opens the door to doubt and cautions against the rush to declare a final resting point in the quest for solutions to societies in deep social and political torment. This is a critical work that should become a new benchmark for anyone acting and thinking in the field of transitional justice. The book is sure to broaden the intellectual school of transitional justice.’
– Makau Mutua, University at Buffalo, US
– Denisa Kostovicova, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
‘In this book, Briony Jones and Ulrike Lühe have done what many academics and policy thinkers are reluctant to do – question orthodoxy in an area of thought that has acquired a high moral plateau. The book reveals a gaping chasm between what is known, and what is unknown about the theoretical underpinnings of transitional justice and the efficiency of the solutions it so confidently prescribes. It is a work that will give researchers, thinkers, and practitioners reason to pause and reflect. It opens the door to doubt and cautions against the rush to declare a final resting point in the quest for solutions to societies in deep social and political torment. This is a critical work that should become a new benchmark for anyone acting and thinking in the field of transitional justice. The book is sure to broaden the intellectual school of transitional justice.’
– Makau Mutua, University at Buffalo, US
Contributors
Contributors: S. Bigirimana, G. Fokou, L. Goetschel, B.T. Halistoprak, B. Jones, W. Lambourne, K.H. Logo, U. Lühe, T. Masiya, L.N. Moro, S.A.Y. N’Da, S. Njeru, D. Wouters
Contents
Contents:
Foreword xii
1 Knowledge for peace: transitional justice and the politics
of knowledge in theory and practice 1
Briony Jones and Ulrike Lühe
PART I POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR PEACE
2 Knowledge production and its politicization within
International Relations and Peace Studies 21
Burak Toygar Halistoprak
3 ‘Knowledge for peace’: integrating power to increase impact 37
Laurent Goetschel
4 Producing knowledge on and for transitional justice:
reflections on a collaborative research project 49
Briony Jones, Ulrike Lühe, Gilbert Fokou, Kuyang
Harriet Logo, Leben Nelson Moro and Serge-Alain Yao N’Da
PART II THE INTERLINKED POLITICS OF
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND AGENDA SETTING
5 Knowledge asymmetry and transitional justice in Côte d’Ivoire 75
Serge-Alain Yao N’Da and Gilbert Fokou
6 Power struggles and the politics of knowledge production
in the Burundian transitional justice process 99
Wendy Lambourne
7 The politics of knowledge in the emergence of the
transitional justice industry in Zimbabwe: the case of the
‘Taking Transitional Justice to the People Programme’, 2009–10 120
Shastry Njeru and Tyanai Masiya
PART III KNOWLEDGE PRODUCERS: EXPERTS AND
EXPERTISE
8 Who are the members of truth commissions? 145
Dietlinde Wouters
9 Developing the African Union Transitional Justice Policy:
an assemblage perspective 167
Ulrike Lühe
10 Playing politics with knowledge: the works of multiple
actors within IGAD PLUS 191
Kuyang Harriet Logo
11 The meaning of violence and the violence of meaning: the
politics of knowledge in Burundi 214
Stanislas Bigirimana
12 Conclusion: empirical insights on the politics of
knowledge production and its transfer into policy and practice 245
Briony Jones and Ulrike Lühe
Index 267
Foreword xii
1 Knowledge for peace: transitional justice and the politics
of knowledge in theory and practice 1
Briony Jones and Ulrike Lühe
PART I POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE FOR PEACE
2 Knowledge production and its politicization within
International Relations and Peace Studies 21
Burak Toygar Halistoprak
3 ‘Knowledge for peace’: integrating power to increase impact 37
Laurent Goetschel
4 Producing knowledge on and for transitional justice:
reflections on a collaborative research project 49
Briony Jones, Ulrike Lühe, Gilbert Fokou, Kuyang
Harriet Logo, Leben Nelson Moro and Serge-Alain Yao N’Da
PART II THE INTERLINKED POLITICS OF
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND AGENDA SETTING
5 Knowledge asymmetry and transitional justice in Côte d’Ivoire 75
Serge-Alain Yao N’Da and Gilbert Fokou
6 Power struggles and the politics of knowledge production
in the Burundian transitional justice process 99
Wendy Lambourne
7 The politics of knowledge in the emergence of the
transitional justice industry in Zimbabwe: the case of the
‘Taking Transitional Justice to the People Programme’, 2009–10 120
Shastry Njeru and Tyanai Masiya
PART III KNOWLEDGE PRODUCERS: EXPERTS AND
EXPERTISE
8 Who are the members of truth commissions? 145
Dietlinde Wouters
9 Developing the African Union Transitional Justice Policy:
an assemblage perspective 167
Ulrike Lühe
10 Playing politics with knowledge: the works of multiple
actors within IGAD PLUS 191
Kuyang Harriet Logo
11 The meaning of violence and the violence of meaning: the
politics of knowledge in Burundi 214
Stanislas Bigirimana
12 Conclusion: empirical insights on the politics of
knowledge production and its transfer into policy and practice 245
Briony Jones and Ulrike Lühe
Index 267
