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Transitional justice and Ireland's legacy of historical abuse

Gallen, James ORCID: 0000-0002-1145-9680 (2020) Transitional justice and Ireland's legacy of historical abuse. Eire-Ireland, 55 (1&2). pp. 35-67. ISSN 0013-2683

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Abstract

This essay evaluates the application of transitional justice to the context of historical abuse in peaceful, consolidated democracies, in particular the Republic of Ireland. 1 Examining Ireland’s efforts at repairing its past from such a perspective reveals an unwillingness by state authorities and Christian churches and religious orders to embrace the necessity of fundamental social, legal, and political transformation when addressing widespread and systemic historical abuse. 2 In Irish efforts to address historical abuse across a range of contexts, power remains out of the hands of victim-survivors and of those traditionally marginalized in society. Instead, in agreement with Georges Balandier, I argue that “the supreme ruse of power is to allow itself to be contested ritually in order to consolidate itself more effectively.” 3 Recent state responses to historical abuse contribute to such a consolidation of power. Although public …

Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Subjects:Social Sciences > Law
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of Law and Government
Publisher:Irish American Cultural Institute
Official URL:https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/eir.2020.0002
Copyright Information:© 2021 Irish American Cultural Institute
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
ID Code:26736
Deposited On:09 Mar 2022 13:40 by James Gallen . Last Modified 09 Mar 2022 13:40

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