The Search for Durable Peace through Transitional Justice and the Role of Collective Memory: A Look at Contemporary Tunisia

Abstract

“Is transitional justice a linear process?” – This paper aims to provide an answer to this interrogative, outlining the impacts that transitional justice, as a complex and nonlinear process, can play in a “post-conflict” context, characterized by the vulnerability of certain social actors. This paper discusses some problematics related to the reconstruction of a “collective memory”, its associated bias and the perverse effects in distorting the “positive principles” and objectives that constitute the basis of transitional justice-related mechanisms. It describes the public policies of a contemporary Tunisia in transition as a key to understand the reactions of heterogeneous actors (ex. civil society, militaries, third parties/international actors) in facing institutional and social transitions on the short and long-term.