ABSTRACT

Transformative justice has emerged as a new practice agenda for addressing structural and systemic violence in post-conflict and post-authoritarian societies. This article is situated at a critical juncture: while the emerging scholarship has focussed on community agency and action, there is little as yet that has explored the social structures and relations in transition societies that are harm-generating and which constrain action. We argue that a critical social science, grounded in realist social theory, systems thinking and complexity theory, have a vital role to play in rendering transparent the relations and structures that resist change. New knowledge about the ‘root causes’ of harm is both conceptually innovative and useful to practice, helping practitioners identify societal arrangements in need of change and informing strategies for action. This article illustrates the approach through its application to a study with poor farmers in post-Revolution Tunisia. The article should be of interest to researchers and practitioners in transitional and transformative justice, conflict and post-conflict, peacebuilding, and security sector reform, who are engaged with understanding and addressing issues of structural and systemic violence.

摘要

变革性司法已成为解决冲突后和专制后社会中结构性和系统性暴力的新实践议程。本文正处于紧要关头：虽然新兴的奖学金主要集中在社区代理和行动上，但很少有人探讨造成伤害并限制行动的转型社会的社会结构和关系。我们认为，以现实主义社会理论，系统思维和复杂性理论为基础的批判社会科学在使抵制变革的关系和结构透明化方面可以发挥至关重要的作用。关于伤害的“根本原因”的新知识在概念上既创新又对实践有用，帮助从业者确定需要变革的社会安排，并为采取行动提供信息。本文通过将其应用于革命后突尼斯贫困农民的研究中，说明了该方法。从事过渡性和变革性司法，冲突与冲突后，建设和平和安全部门改革的研究人员和从业人员应该对本文感兴趣，他们致力于理解和解决结构性和系统性暴力问题。