Beyond Retribution: Seeking Justice in the Shadows of War.

• Author: Carr, Kelly
• Position: Book Review

By Rama Mani. Malden: Polity Press, 2002; pp. vii + 246. $26.95.

In the wake of September 11, 2001, and amid debates over possible responses to Iraq's capacity for mass destruction, Mani's recent book is timely. Since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, U.S. citizens have been forced to empathize with the violent injustices experienced by many other countries. In pursuit of our own retributive justice, we used military action in Afghanistan to rid the country of those who have brought injustices first against their own country's people, and then against ours. However, after having broken down the Taliban's influence in that country, we find that chaos must be replaced with order and resolution.

Mani's book investigates the past deeds and future prospects of the reflection, resolution, and rebuilding that must occur in low-income post-conflict societies. Mani divides the first two sections of her book into "Justice in Theory" and "Justice in Practice," holding true in her organization to what she articulates in her conclusion: that "justice is at once philosophical and political, [...] universal in its existence and yet highly individualized and culturally shaped in its expression" (186). After guiding the reader through a meticulously organized and thorough examination of divergent concepts of justice in post-conflict societies, Mani offers a synthesis of her findings and recommendations for change.

The first section, "Justice in Theory," iterates three dimensions of justice: legal justice, rectificatory justice, and distributive justice, briefly explaining each dimension and then contextualizing them through examples of conflicts and peace accords. After defining each concept of justice independently, Mani weaves the concepts back together by highlighting their interdependency and relating them to the peacebuilding process.

In the second section, "Justice in Practice," Mani unpacks each dimension of justice and cites specific instances. Throughout this section, Mani highlights the successes and failures of applying these principles in places such as Rwanda, Cambodia, Haiti, El Salvador and Namibia. Ever present in her critique is that international approaches to peacebuilding tend to be more technical in nature, with an aim toward restoring order at the cost of restoring justice. However, Mani offers both praise and blame, optimistically telling success stories and describing novel approaches. Likewise, she...