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The Hidden Face of Justice: Fairness, Discrimination and Distribution in Transitional Justice Processes

Author

Listed:
  • Cárdenas Juan Camilo

    (Facultad de Economía, Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia)

  • Casas-Casas Andrés

    (Centro de Análisis Político, Universidad EAFIT. Medellín, Colombia Independent Researcher and Principal Investigator for the World Values Survey in Colombia.)

  • Méndez Nathalie Méndez

    (Centro de Memoria Histórica, Bogotá, Colombia Advisor for the Centro de Memoria Histórica.)

Abstract

This article contributes to the literature on the impact of transitional justice measures using behavioral evidence from experiments. We argue that there is a distributional dilemma at the heart of transitional justice programs, given that the State must allocate goods and services both to victims and excombatants. Individual and social preferences over these processes matter, given that they are likely to scale up to undermine or increase public support for transitional justice programs. We offer evidence from the Colombian case, to show what we call the hidden face of justice effect, which occurs when in the transition from war to peace distributional dilemmas arise and generate a social sanction function that creates negative incentives that can affect the achievement of reintegration of ex-combatants and jeopardizes the maintenance of peace. In order to explore the microfoundations that underlie the differences between allocations to victims and ex-combatants, we use data from field experiments and find that ex-combatants expect lower transfers from public officers and citizens and indeed receive lower transfers, if compared to the victims and the control groups included in the study, despite the fact that third-party observers have the power to punish senders when making offers seen by the third-party as unfair.

Suggested Citation

  • Cárdenas Juan Camilo & Casas-Casas Andrés & Méndez Nathalie Méndez, 2014. "The Hidden Face of Justice: Fairness, Discrimination and Distribution in Transitional Justice Processes," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 33-60, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:pepspp:v:20:y:2014:i:1:p:33-60:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/peps-2013-0052
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    Cited by:

    1. Unfried, Kerstin & Ibañez Diaz, Marcela & Restrepo-Plazaz, Lina Maria, 2022. "Discrimination in post-conflict settings: Experimental evidence from Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    transitional justice; fairness; field experiments; third-party punishment game; Colombia; JEL Codes: C93; D03; D63; D64; D74; H56;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War

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