“Transitional justice” encompasses the legal and extra-legal measures that a country may implement to tackle a large amount of injustices (war crimes, human rights violations) resulted from a conflict or perpetrated by an authoritarian regime. Typical examples are (international) tribunals and truth commissions.
This seminar will look at the mixed roots of transitional justice: from its origins in humanitarian law in Europe at the turn of the Century (the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Geneva and Hague Conventions), to its first implementations in post-WW2 Europe (e.g. the Nuremberg trials), to its more recent globalization and normalization since the 1990s (e.g. the creation of a permanent International Criminal Court). The classic model of retributive justice (criminal trials) will be contrasted with the relatively recent model of restorative justice (truth commissions) and other, more innovative solutions (e.g. ‘transformative justice’). Throughout the seminar relevant cases from Europe and beyond will be presented to highlight the progressive globalization of the concept and its hybridization through new ideas of justice emerging from extra-European experiences (e.g. through the South American and South African truth commissions, the Rwandan gacacas, etc.). Hence, considerable time will be spent also looking into empirical cases. The field is highly interdisciplinary and draws on literature on political science, international law & human rights, anthropology, and area studies.
Suggested introductory reading:
Minow, Martha. Between vengeance and forgiveness. Facing history after genocide and mass violence. Beacon Press, 1999. P. 1-24

About the course

The course offers the understanding of basic concepts of international politics and political thought through the use of pop culture. The course is divided into two parts. The first part will be devoted to the popular TV show Game of Thrones (2011-2017). It will analyze the concepts of International Relations and International Political Economy, such as power, ideas, alliances, cooperation, war, economy, and various models of social orders based on the main characters and important events that take place in the TV show. The second part will explore the key ideas of political thought such as revolution, statehood, capitalism, Marxism, social contract and nature of human development on the basis of a number of movies and TV Shows including Star Trek (1966-2017), House of Cards (2013-2017), The Experiment (2001), Snowpiercer (2013), Ex Machina (2014) and the Matrix (1999).

WARNING
The majority of the media content which is included in the course has an “R” rating and depicts the scenes of extreme violence, sexual harassment, abusive and racist language and other disturbing content. If you are easily offended, please do not take this course.

Readings:
Dunne, Timothy, Milja Kurki, and Steve Smith, eds. 2013. International relations theories: Discipline and diversity / edited by Tim Dunne, Milja Kurki and Steve Smith. Third edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sachleben, Mark. 2014. World politics on screen: Understanding international relations through popular culture. Lexington Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.