We’re delighted to welcome you to a discussion of the book Transitional Justice in Peacebuilding – Actor-Contingent and Malleable Justice by Dr Djeyhoun Ostowar. It explores the role of actors in determining transitional justice in peacebuilding contexts.
In recent decades, transitional justice mechanisms and processes have been introduced to a variety of settings, becoming widely regarded as essential elements in the ‘peacebuilding toolbox’. While it has increasingly been suggested that transitional justice is imposed by neo-imperial actors with little regard for the needs and cultures of local populations, evidence suggests that dismissing these policies as neo-imperial or neo-liberal impositions would result in grossly overlooking their dynamics, which involve a whole range of relevant actors operating at multiple levels. Djeyhoun’s book interrogates this theme through empirical analysis of three sites of peacebuilding that have seen extensive international involvement: Kosovo, East Timor and Afghanistan. It proposes a novel framework for analysing and approaching transitional justice in peacebuilding that disaggregates three broad sets of actors operating at different levels in relevant processes: external actors (international and regional levels), transitional justice promoters (local, national, international and transnational levels), and transitional regimes (national and local levels). The book argues that transitional justice in peacebuilding must be conceived of as actor-contingent and malleable due to the significance of agency and (inter)actions of key categories of actors throughout peacebuilding transition.
Dr Djeyhoun Ostowar is Senior Policy Officer at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London, and also completed an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford as a Weidenfeld Scholar. During his studies and research, Djeyhoun interned and worked for various institutions, including the United Nations, European Council on Foreign Relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the Netherlands Refugee Council.
