Democratising Transitional Justice: Transitional Trade-offs and Constituting the Demos

Aloyo argues that transitional justice should be democratized so that victims and potential victims constitute the transitional justice demos. To realize this goal he proposes a method by which people can be enfranchised to make such choices. 

Key Findings

This article balances three democratic principles: collective self-determination, the all- affected-interests principle, and the protection of individual rights that are necessary for voting.  Aloyo proposes a new institution that would balance international and local control of transitional justice decision making, and choose the demos. This article does not attempt to construct a theory of how to resolve tensions in transitional justice decisions. Instead, Aloyo discusses a theory of who should be empowered to make transitional justice decisions and how their powers should be constrained.

  • Transitional justice should be democratized by enfranchising people to make such choices.
  • Transitional justice options often involve trade-offs.
  • A new institution should be created that would balance international and local control of transitional justice decision making, and choose the demos.