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Transitional Justice - Post-Post-Soviet Space and Beyond
Study Course Description
Course Description Statuss:Approved
Course Description Version:4.00
Study Course Accepted:19.02.2024 12:20:13
| Study Course Information | |||||||||
| Course Code: | PZK_189 | LQF level: | Level 7 | ||||||
| Credit Points: | 5.00 | ECTS: | 7.50 | ||||||
| Branch of Science: | Politics; International Politics | Target Audience: | Political Science | ||||||
| Study Course Supervisor | |||||||||
| Course Supervisor: | Arta Snipe | ||||||||
| Study Course Implementer | |||||||||
| Structural Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences | ||||||||
| The Head of Structural Unit: | |||||||||
| Contacts: | Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf rsu[pnkts]lv | ||||||||
| Study Course Planning | |||||||||
| Full-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 10 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 20 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 10 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 20 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 40 | ||||||||
| Study course description | |||||||||
| Preliminary Knowledge: | Overall knowledge of the political processes in the world in XX – XXI century. | ||||||||
| Objective: | To provide general knowledge in the field of transitional justice: its aims, mechanisms, application; to develop the skills to analyze transitional justice processes, drawing on insights from historical experiences and current cases. | ||||||||
| Topic Layout (Full-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | What is transitional justice? Emergence of transitional justice scholarship | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | Transitional justice: means and ends. Components, aims, approaches | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | Transitional justice: a closer look. History and phases | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | Transitional justice processes: an overview. Levels of TJ and institutions | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Actors and roles. Decisions of transitional justice | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | Trials and amnesties | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | Trials and amnesties. Tribunals and courts | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | Truth Commissions | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | Truth Commissions. Reparations and compensation programs | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 10 | Reparations and compensation programs. Institutional reforms. Vetting | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 11 | Presentations of case studies: Argentina & Chile. Comparison analysis. Discussion based on case study and literature | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 12 | Seminar or main concepts of transitional justice. Literature discussion. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 13 | Presentations of case studies: South Africa & Rwanda. Comparison analysis. Literature discussion | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 14 | Discussion “To prosecute or to forgive?”, based on literature. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 15 | Discussion “Value of truth telling”, based on literature. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 16 | Presentations of case studies: Poland & Hungary. Czech Republic & Slovakia. Comparison analysis. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 17 | Discussion. Dilemmas in vetting. Targets, criteria, sanctions, and rationale. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 18 | Presentations of case studies: The Baltic States. Comparison analysis. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 19 | Transitional Justice in the Former Soviet Union: transitions and non-transitions. Possibilities, initiatives, challenges. | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 20 | Discussion "Importance of memory and storytelling", based on litarature. Wrap-up | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Assessment | |||||||||
| Unaided Work: | During the module students will prepare for the seminars, read literature and prepare a presentation. The aim of seminars is to develop students' ability to argue and present their opinion in a consistent and logical manner; to promote activity; to test students’ knowledge of the topic and materials in question. The aim of the presentation is to develop the ability to identify the key issue of the topic; to identify and evaluate alternative arguments and views; to offer an opinion, explaining and arguing why this particular opinion is better than any other. The report should compare all possible alternatives, considering all their strengths and weaknesses. Another goal is to develop skills to independently study the situation and the problem, give it an assessment and be able to find solutions. | ||||||||
| Assessment Criteria: | Attendance and activity during lectures – 20% Activity and preparedness during seminars – 30% Case study presentation – 25% Final exam – 25% | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Full-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Part-Time): | |||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||
| Knowledge: | Using the in-depth knowledge gained in the course about the transitional justice and its specifics in the post-post-Soviet space, students will compare different mechanisms of transition of rule of law, analyze the rationale and results of their choice. Based on the analysis of the literature on the experience of historical and existing transition processes, students will describe the processes of transitional justice and their impact on current legal dilemmas, for example, in matters of shared ownership. | ||||||||
| Skills: | Students will choose scientific literature appropriate for the individual work. Students will critically evaluate the ideas expressed in the scientific literature and discuss the interpretation of these ideas in the presentations for colleagues. By developing research work, students will compare and analyze the mechanisms of transition of rule of law chosen by different countries. | ||||||||
| Competencies: | By analyzing interdisciplinary literature and developing research work, students will integrate the knowledge and methods of different fields (political, legal sciences, history), therefore strengthening interdisciplinary research competencies. Contrasting the experiences of different countries and the chosen models, students will demonstrate an understanding of comparative policy methods in practice. | ||||||||
| Bibliography | |||||||||
| No. | Reference | ||||||||
| Required Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Horne, et al. Transitional Justice and the Former Soviet Union: Reviewing the Past, Looking toward the Future / Edited by Cynthia M. Horne, Lavinia Stan. 2018. | ||||||||
| 2 | Lavinia Stan. Transitional Justice in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: Reckoning with the Communist Past / Edited by Lavinia Stan. Routledge, 2009. | ||||||||
| 3 | Post-Communist Transitional Justice/ Ed. by Lavinia Stan, Nadra Nedelsky. Cambridge University press, 2015. | ||||||||
| 4 | An introduction to Transitional Justice. 2nd ed./ Ed. by Olivera Simič. Routledge, 2021. | ||||||||
| 5 | Other readings are given under each lecture topic. Most materials are available online (RSU or National Library of Latvia access, Google books, or free online access). | ||||||||
| Additional Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Readings on case studies and required reading for seminars are given under each seminar topic (RSU or National Library of Latvia access). | ||||||||
| Other Information Sources | |||||||||
| 1 | International Center for Transitional Justice webpage. Available from: https://www.ictj.org | ||||||||
| 2 | Transitional Justice Research Collaborative website. Available from: https://transitionaljusticedata.com/browse/index | ||||||||
| 3 | The UN High Commissioner of Refugees homepage: Country reports. Available from: https://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=topi… | ||||||||
| 4 | International Military Tribunal At Nuremberg. Available from: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/internati… | ||||||||
| 5 | International Criminal Court. Available from: https://www.icc-cpi.int/ | ||||||||
| 6 | United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. Available from: https://unictr.irmct.org/en | ||||||||
| 7 | International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Available from: https://www.icty.org/ | ||||||||
| 8 | The International Journal of Transitional Justice. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/ijtj/issue | ||||||||
| 9 | Global Policy Forum. International Criminal Tribunals and Special Courts. Available from: https://www.globalpolicy.org/international-justice/internat… | ||||||||
