When the shooting stops: How transitional justice turns knowledge into acknowledgment

Abstract

When the president of Colombia shook hands with the leader of FARC, the longest-running conflict in the Western Hemisphere was over, but ensuring peace after the official end of the fighting is never straightforward. Using examples from Northern Ireland, Argentina, and Chile, author Robin Kirk argues that a formal reckoning with the past can help a nation like Colombia heal, especially when a balance between retribution and absolution is found.