When an Authoritarian State Victimizes the Nation: Transitional Justice, Collective Memory, and Political Divides

Abstract

In this article, the author uses the concept of "transitional justice"—defined as the way societies or groups elect to deal with the past as they establish a new system—to examine the manner in which political behavior in postauthoritarian states both manifests and modifies aggressor-victim memory. Comparing the cases of transition from authoritarianism to democracy in South Africa, El Salvador, and Poland, she contrasts the positive outcomes of the open confrontation with "silent memory" in South Africa with the failure of Poland and El Salvador, in different ways, to deal conclusively and consistently with the past. In the case of Poland, the initial silence turned the past into a political football that soured the citizenry on political participation. In the case of El Salvador, the author posits that "boomerang justice" stimulated by outside interests has split the population and alienated both sides from effective political action. The article thereby advances an interpretation of political behavior as a locus for collective memory in nation-states, with the conclusion for postauthoritarian states that transitional justice can free political behavior from the trappings of the past, but only if aggressors and victims confront one another and move toward reconciliation.