Effective Communication for Transitional Justice: Engaging the Special Jurisdiction for Peace’s Stakeholders and Promoting Democratic Norms

This ongoing project will contribute to a critical gap in scholarship and practice on deepening democracy: understanding how best to communicate about the work of transitional justice (hereafter TJ) institutions. Through a review of existing scholarship on effective communication in TJ and the potential for TJ mechanisms to contribute to democratic governance, qualitative coding of the text of the first three sentences from Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (Jurisdicción Especial Para la Paz, hereafter JEP), and a mapping of expectations for the JEP from key stakeholders, this project will provide necessary insights into ways for TJ institutions to communicate their objectives and work more effectively towards deeper democratic practices. As a project emerging from a close follow up of the implementation of the 2016 Colombian peace accord and a request from the JEP for scholarly input, the project has clear links to policy and practice in addition to its academic contributions.