The Conceptual Foundations of Transitional Justice (2017)

"Colleen Murphy develops, and delivers, the bold argument that transitional justice -- the way a society reckons with massive human rights abuses -– is not ordinary justice. It is not reducible to retributive or restorative principles, nor to case-by-case determinations; rather, it is distinctive justice, because it is concerned with the just pursuit of societal transformation and relational repair. Murphy’s book is a game-changer: a must-read for anyone concerned with the theory, practice, and policy of post-conflict rebuilding."

"Murphy offers an outstanding analysis. This ambitious book constructs a novel way of conceiving the “justice” in transitional justice, provoking discussion on a topic that has received little sustained analysis in the burgeoning transitional justice literature."

"In The Conceptual Foundations of Transitional Justice, Colleen Murphy develops a theoretical framework for understanding the conditions, objectives, and processes of transitional justice. It is a very interesting and useful contribution to the literature on transitional justice … the book helps us to rethink how we - practitioners, interested parties, and scholars - can more coherently, effectively, and justly respond to past wrongdoing."

"By reframing justice away from legal accountability and toward the evaluation of legal responses based on their contributions to reforming political relationships, between citizen and state and among citizens, she moves past the increasingly unsolvable debates that have preoccupied the field."

"Murphy deserves accolades for traversing numerous disciplinary divides in her approach to transitional justice. For scholars seeking to build more bridges between international law and philosophy, this books offers an excellent way as to how it can be done."

"Murphy eloquently argues that transitional justice is not like normal justice; it is qualitatively different because of the fundamentally distinct circumstances that constitute periods of political transition. These include: (a) pervasive structural inequality; (b) normalized collective and political wrongdoing; (c) serious existential uncertainty; and (d) fundamental uncertainty about authority. These background circumstances mean that ordinary ideas of retribution, corrective justice, and restitution do not cater to the needs of societies undergoing transition from authoritarianism/mass violence to democracy/peace. The misfit with these usual concepts of justice is so acute that we must craft an entirely new, distinct brand of justice that follows its own logic and answers to its own self-consciously defined first principles."

"...the book is a sophisticated and analytic account of a timely topic, and merits a careful read by those with an interest in the challenges of transitioning from injustice to justice in circumstances that make the transition, without good guidance of the kind Murphy offers, seem impossible to achieve."

"Murphy’s accessible and engaging book provides a normatively clear and philosophically rigorous theory of transitional justice that is a valuable contribution to a burgeoning literature on a complex moral and political subject. … its clarity helps to illuminate where future philosophical work on this complex theme should go."

"Colleen Murphy’s new book on transitional justice displays her signature blend of analytic rigor, elegant writing and empirically anchored theorizing. She follows up her excellent first book on political reconciliation with a volume on what it means to transform a war torn society so that it can, ultimately, become reconciled. The just pursuit of political transformation, Murphy argues, is at the heart of the idea of transitional justice. This is the best, most ambitious philosophical account of transitional justice that I have read. The book can be read with great utility by scholars and students seeking to understand the unique conditions and dilemmas surrounding transitions, as well as by policy makers interested in fashioning decent and legitimate transitional institutions."

"...Some people find it exasperating when scholars evaluate international and transitional justice institutions in relation to moral aspirations that seem impossible to meet. The point of such an exercise, Murphy usefully reminds us, is not to condemn institutions on the grounds that they do not measure up to an ideal, but to offer guidance for the work needed to assess or alter the relationship between institutions and the values they are established to maintain. The Conceptual Foundations of Transitional Justice advances this work in important ways, by developing a bold case for the importance of transitional justice. The book is a rewarding intellectual journey, and offers a provocative framework for transforming
theory and practice."