Clarifying the Past: Understanding Historical Commissions in Conflicted and Divided Societies

Clarifying the Past provides a comprehensive analysis of state-sponsored historical commissions in conflicted and divided societies, developing a theoretical and methodological framework and an empirical analysis of 27 commissions. The increased recognition of their potential to address contested pasts and transitional justice makes this book highly relevant to scholars and practitioners.

Format: Hardback
Length: 258 pages
Publication date: 13 October 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Clarifying the Past is a groundbreaking work that provides a comprehensive analysis of state-sponsored historical commissions operating in conflicted and divided societies. It develops a theoretical and methodological framework within the historical dialogue paradigm, which is essential for understanding the work of these commissions. The book is complemented with an extensive empirical analysis of 27 historical commissions that operated in different social and political contexts from the 1990s to the present. This detailed examination of these cases offers a broad perspective into the potential capacities of historical commissions in various settings. While the book focuses on the most recent cases, it demonstrates that the steady increase in the number of historical commissions indicates that we are not dealing with a marginal phenomenon. The increased recognition of the potential of historical commissions to address the legacies of contested pasts and their potential introduction to transitional justice makes this book highly relevant.

The book has been written with the objective of deepening and broadening the existing knowledge on state-sponsored historical commissions. It is intended for scholars and practitioners in the fields of historical theory, public history, historical dialogue, transitional justice, peace and conflict studies.

Clarifying the Past offers a valuable contribution to the study of history, society, and conflict resolution. It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the work of historical commissions and sheds light on their potential to address the legacies of contested pasts. The book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, and policymakers alike, as it offers insights into the challenges and opportunities of historical inquiry in complex and divided societies.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367500993