2025/06/02 by Wendy Lambourne · 1 voice · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis #Criminology #Economic Justice #Environmental ethics #Gender, Security, and Conflict #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #Human rights #Law #Pedagogy #Political science #Psychology #Psychosocial #Psychotherapist #Social justice #Sociology #Transformative learning #Transitional justice
paper · doi:10.1080/13642987.2025.2501568
published in The International Journal of Human Rights 30(1), 213-233 (Routledge)
openalex publication_date 2025/06/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/04
The transformative turn in transitional justice has proposed a radical rethink of the justice priorities pursued in dealing with past mass human rights violations, going beyond the UN’s standard four key pillars of prosecutions, truth-seeking, reparations and institutional reform. Challenging the dominant legal, prosecutorial approach to transitional justice, transformative justice scholars have argued for a greater focus on socioeconomic rights that address the root causes of violence. They have called for an emphasis on the needs and priorities of local affected communities, moving away from the top-down, institutionalised imposition of external standards and frameworks. Yet there is more to the process of transformation than legal, political and socioeconomic justice which promotes structural transformation. As articulated in theories of conflict transformation and transformative peacebuilding, there is also a need for relational or psychosocial transformation. In order to achieve these goals and outcomes, transformative justice therefore needs to incorporate the missing psychosocial or relational dimension of transformation which I explore in this article. I examine the concept of psychosocial justice and its application in practice in Burundi where community-based approaches to healing and reconciliation have been pursued as part of a transformative approach to transitional justice and peacebuilding.