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4 - Compromise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2022

Frank Haldemann
Affiliation:
Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
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Summary

This chapter explores the place of compromise in transitional justice. While all-pervasive in politics, compromise is a neglected topic, almost a non-topic, within the current transitional justice literature. The chapter is an attempt to reverse this tendency and rehabilitate the notion of compromise. If, as pluralists hold, we are often faced with cases of hard moral choices where, whatever we do, something of value is irreparably lost, then the best we can hope for is some kind of acceptable compromise between clashing goods. The question about the limits of compromise thus features centrally in this chapter. How far should transitional societies go in their willingness to compromise? When is a compromise acceptable, fair, guided by principle, and when is it rotten to the core, simply illegitimate? To what extent is it acceptable to compromise deeply held values such as justice and truth for the sake of other equally important values such as, say, civil peace and democracy? While doubtful that we can settle such issues once and for all, the chapter identifies a range of questions that should be part of the collective conversation about when a political compromise is acceptable and when it is not. The discussion begins, however, with a concrete historical figure, the communist leader Joe Slovo, who played a critical role in South Africa’s negotiated transition from apartheid to democracy. Slovo’s reflections on the nature and limits of compromise in the South African context serve as a central reference point for my discussion throughout this chapter.

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Transitional Justice for Foxes
Conflict, Pluralism and the Politics of Compromise
, pp. 146 - 200
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Compromise
  • Frank Haldemann, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Book: Transitional Justice for Foxes
  • Online publication: 24 November 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108933964.006
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  • Compromise
  • Frank Haldemann, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Book: Transitional Justice for Foxes
  • Online publication: 24 November 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108933964.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Compromise
  • Frank Haldemann, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Book: Transitional Justice for Foxes
  • Online publication: 24 November 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108933964.006
Available formats
×