Synopses & Reviews
When genocidal violence gripped Rwanda in 1994, the international community recoiled, hastily withdrawing its peacekeepers. Late that year, in an effort to redeem itself, the United Nations Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to seek accountability for some of the worst atrocities since World War II: the genocide suffered by the Tutsi and crimes against humanity suffered by the Hutu. But faced with competing claims, the prosecution focused exclusively on the crimes of Hutu extremists. No charges would be brought against the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, which ultimately won control of the country. The UN, as if racked by guilt for its past inaction, gave in to pressure by Rwandaandrsquo;s new leadership. With the Hutu effectively silenced, and the RPF constantly reminding the international community of its failure to protect the Tutsi during the war, the Tribunal pursued an unusual form of one-sided justice, born out of contrition. and#160;
and#160;and#160; and#160;Fascinated by the Tribunalandrsquo;s rich complexities, journalist Thierry Cruvellier came back day after day to watch the proceedings, spending more time there than any other outside observer. Gradually he gained the confidence of the victims, defendants, lawyers, and judges. Drawing on interviews with these protagonists and his close observations of their interactions, Cruvellier takes readers inside the courtroom to witness the motivations, mechanisms, and manipulations of justice as it unfolded on the stage of high-stakes, global politics. It is this ground-level view that makes his account so valuableandmdash;and so absorbing. A must-read for those who want to understand the dynamics of international criminal tribunals, Court of Remorse reveals both the possibilities and the challenges of prosecuting human rights violations.and#160;and#160;A Choice Outstanding Academic Book
Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association for School Libraries and the Public Library Association
Best Books for High Schools, selected by the American Association for School Libraries
Review
andldquo;A remarkable anatomy of selected cases. . . . Cruvellierandrsquo;s depiction of the atmosphere and characters inside the courtroom is gripping. He never lets the reader forget the human and personal implications of the proceedings he is describing.andrdquo;andmdash;Luc Reydams, The American Journal of International Law
Review
andldquo;The most comprehensive analysis to date.andrdquo;andmdash;Jean-Philippe Randeacute;my, Le Monde
Review
andldquo;Cruvellier gets behind the rhetoric of the court to reveal its contradictions, blind spots, and day-to-day operations. A remarkably perceptive, subtle analysis of how a major human rights institution actually works.andrdquo;andmdash;Scott Straus, series editor and author of The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda
Review
andldquo;By far the best and most serious reckoning of the workings of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Cruvellier spent years closely watching the proceedings, and his astutely observed scenes of courtroom drama establish his sympathy for this experiment in justice. But he ultimately comes to question the very idea that the worldandrsquo;s major powers should use international courts to adjudicate the political crimes of weaker countries. After all, he asks, isnandrsquo;t it inevitable that such tribunals will reflect the weaknesses, compromises, and lack of international engagement that produced them in the first place?andrdquo;andmdash;Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families
Review
"[Selling the Congo is a] fascinating history of Belgium's 20th-century colonial culture."and#8212;Martin Rubin, Wall Street Journal
Review
and#8220;A welcome addition to studies of the imperial metropole. . . . Written in a clear and very direct style, which makes it accessible to a broad audience, including undergraduates.and#8221;and#8212;David Ciarlo, American Historical Review
Review
"The breadth of topics covered in this book is wideand#8212;each of them could fill a separate monograph. It is to Stanard's credit that he is able to pull them together. . . . Scholars of other European empires seeking to gain comparative knowledge will find this book useful."and#8212;Sarah Van Beurden, H-France
Review
"[Selling the Congo is] a useful addition to the growing body of 'end of empire' retrospectives that explore the impact of imperial expansion on the social imaginary of the European population."and#8212;Crawford Young, The Historian
Review
"[Selling the Congo contributes] to a broader understanding of the impact of colonialism on colonial powers."and#8212;Geert Castryck, H-Net
Review
"Matthew Stanard's Selling the Congo looks to expand our view of European colonial culture and consider the new understandings of empire in a different context, that of Belgian imperialism and pro-empire propaganda."and#8212;Elizabeth Stice, H-Empire
Review
“A very important contribution to the interdisciplinary scholarship on the broad theme of reckoning with histories of atrocity.”—Bronwyn Leebaw, University of California, Riverside
Review
“Charged with excavating and exposing competing narratives of mass atrocities and their consequences, historical (truth) commissions have emerged as an important forum for conflict resolution. Alexander Karn’s comparative scope stands out among a growing body of research providing a set of tools, relevant to both academics and activists.”—Daniel Levy, State University of New York, Stony Brook
Synopsis
In his first book of Satires, written in the late, violent days of the Roman republic, Horace exposes satiric speech as a tool of power and domination. Using critical theories from classics, speech act theory, and others, Catherine Schlegel argues that Horace's acute poetic observation of hostile speech provides insights into the operations of verbal control that are relevant to his time and to ours. She demonstrates that though Horace is forced by his political circumstances to develop a new, unthreatening style of satire, his poems contain a challenge to our most profound habits of violence, hierarchy, and domination. Focusing on the relationships between speaker and audience and between old and new style, Schlegel examines the internal conflicts of a notoriously difficult text. This exciting contribution to the field of Horatian studies will be of interest to classicists as well as other scholars interested in the genre of satire.
Synopsis
The end of apartheid in South Africa broke down political barriers, extending to all races the formal rights of citizenship, including the right to participate in free elections and parliamentary democracy. But South Africa remains one of the most economically polarized nations in the world. In The Politics of Necessity Elke Zuern forcefully argues that working toward greater socio-economic equality—access to food, housing, land, jobs—is crucial to achieving a successful and sustainable democracy.
Drawing on interviews with local residents and activists in South Africa’s impoverished townships during more than a decade of dramatic political change, Zuern tracks the development of community organizing and reveals the shifting challenges faced by poor citizens. Under apartheid, township residents began organizing to press the government to address the basic material necessities of the poor and expanded their demands to include full civil and political rights. While the movement succeeded in gaining formal political rights, democratization led to a new government that instituted neo-liberal economic reforms and sought to minimize protest. In discouraging dissent and failing to reduce economic inequality, South Africa’s new democracy has continued to disempower the poor.
By comparing movements in South Africa to those in other African and Latin American states, this book identifies profound challenges to democratization. Zuern asserts the fundamental indivisibility of all human rights, showing how protest movements that call attention to socio-economic demands, though often labeled a threat to democracy, offer significant opportunities for modern democracies to evolve into systems of rule that empower all citizens.
Synopsis
Belgium was a small, neutral country without a colonial tradition when King Leopold II ceded the Congo, his personal property, to the state in 1908. For the next half century, Belgium not only ruled an African empire but also, through widespread, enduring, and eagerly embraced propaganda, produced an imperialist-minded citizenry.
and#160;Selling the Congo is a study of European pro-empire propaganda in Belgium, with particular emphasis on the period 1908and#8211;60. Matthew G. Stanard examines the nature of Belgian imperialism in the Congo and considers its case in light of literature on the French, the British, and other European overseas empires. Comparing Belgium to other imperial powers, the book finds that pro-empire propaganda was a basic part of European overseas expansion and administration during the modern period. Arguing against the long-held belief that Belgians were merely and#8220;reluctant imperialists,and#8221; Stanard demonstrates that in fact many Belgians readily embraced imperialistic propaganda.
and#160;Selling the Congo contributes to our understanding of the effectiveness of twentieth-century propaganda by revealing its successes and failures in the Belgian case. Many readers familiar with more-popular histories of Belgian imperialism will find in this book a deeper examination of European involvement in central Africa during the colonial era.
Synopsis
During the 1990s and early 2000s in Europe, more than fifty historical commissions were created to confront, discuss, and document the genocide of the Holocaust and to address some of its unresolved injustices.
Amending the Past offers the first in-depth account of these commissions, examining the complexities of reckoning with past atrocities and large-scale human rights violations.
About the Author
'
"The Politics of Necessity is timely, readable, and accessible, and important politically, empirically, and theoretically. It displays the indifference of some fledgling democracies to the needs of the poor, exposes the impoverishment of definitions of democracy that overlook this pattern, and shows the costs of these silences.”—Michael MacDonald, Williams College
“A must-read. Here is an explanation of why democratic South Africa emerged, how its elites forgot the very people who brought them to power, and how these poor citizens struggle to be heard.”—Adam Habib, University of Johannesburg, Kingsway Campus '
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Confronting the Holocaust as Historical Injustice
Part I. National Holocaust Commissions
1 France and Switzerland: Myths of Resistance and Neutrality
2 Poles and Jews: Mediating the Jedwabne Conflict
3 Austria and Italy: The Reich and Its Allies
4 Lithuania and Latvia: The Limits of “Double Genocide”
Part II. Bilateral and International Commissions
5 Germany and Its Neighbors
6 The International Commission on Holocaust-Era Insurance Claims
7 The International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission
Conclusion: Truth-Telling, Narrativity, and the Right to History
Notes
Index