Closing the Books

The book examines the evolution of transitional justice following shifts from autocratic to democratic regimes, focusing on the accountability of past wrongdoers and the compensation of victims. John Elster analyzes various historical instances of transitional justice, including those in Western and Eastern Europe post-1945 and 1989, as well as examples from classical Greece, the English and French restorations, and contemporary cases in Latin America and South Africa. He proposes a framework to understand the differences across these transitions.