Transitional Justice

Abstract

Myanmar’s half-century of authoritarianism from 1962 to 2011 left a bitter legacy of gross human rights abuse and other historical injustice. One issue widely held by researchers to be a contributing factor to establishing a human rights culture and promoting democratization is dealing with the past. In this context, the chapter explores the demand for transitional justice in Myanmar, drawing on interviews with former political prisoners, surveys, survey experiments, and secondary sources. It reviews factors commonly associated with demand for transitional justice, examines the historical and political determinants of transitional justice in Myanmar, probes the authors’ surveys to investigate popular demand for transitional justice, uses interviews with former political prisoners to assess victims’ needs and their conception of justice, and connects a victim-centred approach with popular demand by examining support for transitional justice in light of experimental evidence simulating real-life resolution of historical injustice.