Seeking justice in a divided region: text analysis of regional civil society deliberations in the Balkans

Kostovicova, Denisa (2016) Seeking justice in a divided region: text analysis of regional civil society deliberations in the Balkans. International Journal of Transitional Justice . ISSN 1752-7716 (In Press)

PDF - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (379Kb) | Request a copy

• LSE expert's profile

Abstract

Contemporary conflicts are seldom contained within nation-states. The cross-border nature of violence has prompted scholars to call for a regional approach to transitional justice. This article furthers our understanding of the regional dimension of post-conflict justice by addressing the puzzle of whether discourse in regional-level debates is different from that in national or local level debates. It applies a communicative deliberation perspective by focusing on the patterns of talk during civil society deliberations on post-conflict justice. Empirical evidence is based on the unique regional civil society-led process in the Balkans that aims to establish a regional fact-finding commission, known by its acronym RECOM. Critiquing state-centered approaches to the study of transitional justice, this study conducts mixed method research and applies text analytic techniques appropriate for the investigation of a large volume of regional-level data. Quantitative text analysis is carried out by applying a dictionary method to over a half a million words of RECOM’s text data. It finds that regional-level debates have a higher level of restorative discourse than non-regional debates. Qualitative analysis of discursive frames explores this finding further, and shows that deliberators’ endorsement of the regional approach to transitional justice rests on a set of historical, present and future considerations, underpinned by a sense of regional consciousness.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/
Additional Information:	© 2016 Oxford University Press
Library of Congress subject classification:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Sets:	Departments > Government
Date Deposited:	16 Nov 2016 13:03
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68293/

Actions (login required)

Record administration - authorised staff only