Escaping Justice: Impunity for state crimes in the age of accountability
Now more than ever the international community is playing a role in pressing governments to hold their own to account. Movements in support of human rights have helped to spur global pressure for individual accountability for the violations of those rights, a ‘justice cascade’. Despite pressure to adhere to global norms of accountability, governments continue to benefit from impunity for their crimes and have an incentive to structure institutions to help them escape justice. How does this outcome persist? Escaping Justice is a study of the process through which accountability for state crimes is pursued or denied based on extensive fieldwork in Rwanda, Uganda, and Northern Ireland. Escaping Justice presents a theory of strategic adaptation in which governments circumvent the risks of accountability by adapting international norms. Research in each of the three country cases reveals unique strategies of adaptation: coercion, containment, and concession. I use evidence from these cases to trace the domestic political context driven each strategy and offer insight into the transitional justice structure most likely to emerge.
Reviews and Endorsements
'Cyanne E. Loyle explores why transnational justice, even while it 'works' has often failed to ensure that states are held accountable for crimes against their own citizens. Even with widespread diffusion of transitional justice mechanisms, Loyle shows us how and why it is fundamental to pay attention to whose justice is served. Beautifully written and theoretically insightful, Escaping Justice illuminates not only transitional justice, but a central and enduring problem in efforts to defend human security.' Susan D. Hyde, Robson Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
'Loyle uses a fascinating array of fieldwork data to shed light on the effect of transitional justice on victims. While making some citizens feel recognized and welcome in participating in the post-conflict regime, it makes others feel as if they have been left out. Moreover, governments are capable of dispatching transitional justice procedures strategically in ways that help them become further entrenched in power. The stories Loyle tells from the victims' perspective make this book a real page-turner. But the ease with which this book is read should not distract from its social science value. It will no doubt allow the Peace Science community to answer numerous questions about the relationships between domestic and international transitional justice, the occurrence of transitional justice under authoritarian regimes, and just how skewed processes of transitional justice really are.' Monika Nalepa, Professor, Department of Political Science, The University of Chicago
'This rigorously researched and engagingly written book offers a compelling explanation for why some perpetrators of gross human rights violations are prosecuted and why some escape justice. Loyle's extensive fieldwork and innovative methodology make her conclusions persuasive and the book an essential contribution to the study of post-conflict justice.' Jelena Subotic, Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University
