Transitional Justice, Judicial Accountability and the Rule of Law

by Yusuf; Hakeem O.

• ISBN13: 9780415575355
• ISBN10: 0415575354
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-06-22
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Transitional Justice, Judicial Accountability and the Rule of Law addresses the importance of judicial accountability in transitional justice processes. Despite a general consensus that the judiciary plays an important role in contemporary governance, accountability for the judicial role in formerly authoritarian societies remains largely elided and under-researched. Hakeem O. Yusuf argues that the purview of transitional justice mechanisms should, as a matter of policy, be extended to scrutiny of the judicial role in the past. Through a critical comparative approach that cuts through the transitioning experiences of post-authoritarian and post-conflict polities in Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa, the book focuses specifically on Nigeria. It demonstrates that public accountability of the judiciary through the mechanism of a truth-seeking process is a necessary component in securing comprehensive accountability for the judicial role in the past. Transitional Justice, Judicial Accountability and the Rule of Law further shows that an across-the-board transformation of state institutions - an important aspiration of transitional processes - is virtually impossible without incorporating the third branch of government, the judiciary, into the accountability process.

Author Biography

Hakeem O. Yusuf is a lecturer in Law at Queen's University Belfast.