Collective Representations and Memories of Atrocities after Judicial Interventions: The Case of Darfur in International Comparison

Collective Representations and Memories of Atrocities after Judicial Interventions: The Case of Darfur in International Comparison

Using the case of the Darfur region of Sudan as a basis, this research examines the role that judicial intervention plays in shaping acknowledgment, collective representation and memory of atrocities. It also considers how the related impact of UN Security Council and International Criminal Court (ICC) interventions vary across eight Western democracies as well as across the diverse institutions within each country.

Collective memory theory is concerned with the impact of current-day interests on representations and memory and with ways in which memories of past atrocities, differing across countries, shape representations of new atrocities. Theoretical ideas in this tradition speak to the potency of law in shaping collective representations and their consequences. But outcomes depend on the country-specific acceptance of the ICC and further, on nation-specific institutions (such as news media, NGOs, scholarship, consulting, policy-making institutions). The shape these institutions take should modify the impact neo-institutional theories suggest derives from new international human rights norms. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will be used in the current research. A sample of newspaper articles (from prominent liberal and conservative papers) and policy documents (including state department policy statements) from each country will be content analyzed. The resulting data will undergo statistical analysis. In-depth interviews will be conducted with producers of these texts (including journalists and policy-makers) and their sources within scholarship and rights- and humanitarian aid-oriented NGOs.

Collective representations and memories are mediating mechanisms that inspire intervention and promote, impede or end cycles of violence. This research seeks to advance insights into the country-specific role of judicial intervention in constructing such representations and memories. Policy conclusions concern the uses of international criminal justice.