Tulane: Beth Dougherty on Transitional Justice in Iraq
Sect, Trials and the United States: Searching for Transitional Justice in Iraq
Far from promoting justice or reconciliation, Saddam’s trial and subsequent execution exacerbated the sharply divisive narratives of sectarianism and occupation that are driving the violence in Iraq. The Iraq High Tribunal faced a complex political environment that posed stiff challenges to its ability to deliver transitional justice, including the legacy of politicized successor trials and deep sectarian and ethnic divides. Moreover, its proceedings were subject to constant interference from the Iraqi government, and took place as Iraq slid ever deeper into conflict. The Bush administration’s conflicting goals for transitional justice in Iraq — it wanted both a fair and legitimate process and the execution of Saddam — led it to midwife an Americanized Iraqi court that was ill-suited to meet the challenges of post-Saddam Iraq.
Beth Dougherty is Manger Professor of International Relations and Associate Professor of Political Science at Beloit College. She received her MA and PhD in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and did her undergraduate work at Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) where she majored in political science. She joined the Beloit faculty in 1996 and teaches a broad range of international politics courses, including Middle East politics, African conflicts, human rights, U.S. foreign policy, and international law and organizations. Her current research focuses on transitional justice mechanisms such as international criminal tribunals and truth and reconciliation commissions. A 2003 Fulbright Scholar to Denmark, she spent four months at the Danish Institute for Human Rights in Copenhagen conducting research on international justice issues. She has made three trips to Sierra Leone since late 2003 to follow the work of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She has published on a wide range of subjects, including Iraq, transitional justice in Sierra Leone and Iraq, ethnic conflict, and pedagogy.
Professor Dougherty’s articles have appeared in International Affairs, Security Studies, Middle East Policy, African Studies Quarterly, Active Learning in Higher Education, PS: Political Science, and International Studies Perspectives. She and Edmund Ghareeb are the co-authors of A Historical Dictionary of Iraq, which was named a Best Reference Source in 2004 by Library Journal. Professor Dougherty has also received both campus and national awards for teaching, including the 1999 Underkofler Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (Beloit College), and the 2001 Rowman and Littlefield Award for Innovative Teaching in Political Science, awarded through the American Political Science Association.
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