Elin Skaar
Biographic Data
| ID | 773825 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elin Skaar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elin |
| FAMILY NAME | Skaar |
| SIGNATURE | SKAAR E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Chr. Michelsen Institute |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0425-664X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 36 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Women judges in fragile states: State of the art and analytical framework
Women are entering courts as judges in increasing numbers, including in so-called ‘fragile states’. However, little research examines in-depth how women access and experience their role on the bench in these contexts. Based on a thorough review of existing literature, we propose an analytical framework that can help us understand how women access and experience their role on the bench in contexts of state fragility. Drawing on existing research t…
Women’s access to the bench in post-conflict autocratic states: Insights from Angola
Women constitute a large proportion of judges at all court levels in Angola. This influx of women judges has taken place in a period of post-civil war reconstruction under the auspices of a formerly left-leaning autocratic regime with a gender-friendly ideology and strong executive control. Combining a desk study and interviews with Angolan judges, we show that access to legal education, the large number of judicial vacancies, the introduction of…
Conceptualizing the Legitimacy of Non-Transitional Truth Commissions: Norway and Canada Compared
Recent years have seen a new trend in the transitional justice field, as Western democracies establish truth commissions (TCs) to address harms against Indigenous and national-minority populations. The first, most prominent, and now archetypal of these “non-transitional” TCs emerged in Canada. The most recent have been in the Nordic countries, with Norway leading the way. We suggest that to be effective, these TCs face a distinctive challenge: se…
The implementation of truth commission recommendations: Exploring the ‘beyond words’ database for Latin America
We know little about the processes surrounding the formulation and implementation of truth commission recommendations (TCRs). This article introduces the Beyond Words database, which systematically identifies and tracks the formulation and implementation processes behind 960 recommendations from 13 truth commissions established across Latin America between 1983 and 2012. The database offers information on factors shaping TCR formulation, identifi…
When Truth Commission Models Travel: Explaining the Norwegian Case
∞ This article explores ‘late justice’ in the context of settler democracies with a history of racism, using Norway as a case study. It examines the background for the Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established by the Norwegian Parliament in 2018 to investigate the consequences of historical and ongoing assimilation of the indigenous Sami people and two national minorities. I argue that although the Norwegian TRC was establi…
Exploring Truth Commission Recommendations in a Comparative Perspective: Beyond Words Vol. I
Based on fieldwork that is unprecedented in scope, this two-volume project provides the first systematic study of the formulation and implementation of the recommendations of 13 Latin American truth commissions. Beyond Words Vol. I examines the variations in truth commission recommendations across 13 Latin American cases. Insights are provided regarding how the internal dynamics of truth commissions, as well as the political, social and economic …
After Violence: Transitional Justice, Peace, and Democracy
Drivers of Justice after Violent Conflict: An Introduction
Provides an introduction to a special issue that seeks to provide a better understanding of the political, judicial and social forces driving the establishment and operation of transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms after violent conflict
The Drivers of Transitional Justice: An Analytical Framework for Assessing the Role of Actors
The transitional justice (TJ) field has gone through phases in which the role of actors and their environments – or structure and agency, more broadly viewed – have been alternatively emphasised. This article privileges agency as the focal point of analysis. The main task is to conceptualise ways in which actors promote, or obstruct, transitional justice. Taking time and context into consideration, we construct a multi-level framework to explore …
A Conflict Does Not Rot”: State and Civil Society Responses to Civil War Offences in Mozambique
This article analyses how state and non-state actors have tried to address the human rights violations and war crimes committed during the civil war in Mozambique (1976–92). While the political elite opted for amnesty laws, and urban civil society organisations remained largely on the side-lines, in rural areas, war survivors and the post-war generations have been actively engaged in dealing with the violent past through practices commonly referr…
Wavering Courts: From Impunity to Accountability in Uruguay
Many Latin American countries are moving towards increased accountability for past human rights violations, and there is a growing global consensus that international law does not allow some crimes simply to be exempted from prosecution. Uruguay has had a deeply split response to these developments. While the Supreme Court and the political elite increasingly pushed to end impunity, the public actually ratified the 1985 amnesty law protecting the…
Puede la independencia judicial explicar la justicia postransicional
La justicia postransicional se inició en el Cono Sur de América Latina a mediados de la década de 1990 y gradualmente se ha expandido a otros países que buscan afrontar violaciones de derechos humanos cometidas durante los regímenes autoritarios que dominaron el continente desde la década de 1970 hasta inicios de la década de 1990. Para diferenciar los juicios de la transición de los juicios que se llevaron a cabo años después durante la fase de …
Un análisis de las reformas judiciales de Argentina, Chile y Uruguay
Este artículo trata sobre las reformas judiciales en Sudamérica, durante los años 90. Muestra que tanto en el caso de la Argentina como en el de Chile, las reformas a los códigos de procedimiento estuvieron motivadas por tres factores centrales, vinculados con el doble proceso de democratización y liberalización económica: i) la preocupación con la violación de derechos humanos que provenía de los pasados regímenes autoritarios; ii) el deseo de…
Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Did the TRC Deliver? ed. Audrey R. Chapman and Hugo van der Merwe; Narrating Political Reconciliation: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Cla…
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is by far the most noted and praised truth commission in the world. It has served as a role model to many of the subsequent truth commissions set up worldwide, as well as inspired a vast bulk of scholarly literature. For those interested in the truth and reconciliation process in South Africa, or in truth commissions in general, two read-worthy books have appeared on the market that offe…
Legal development and human rights in Uruguay: 1985–2002
Søramerikanske militære for retten: Kva skal til
Introduction: The Accountability Function of the Courts in New Democracies
2003). Introduction: the accountability function of the courts in new democracies. Democratization: Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 1-6
Rule of Law in Latin America: The International Promotion of Judicial Reform
This volume analyzes the judicial reform processes funded by international donor organizations in Latin America. As billions of dollars are spent on judicial reform, it is pertinent to ask about the fate of these projects. The authors examine the way in which international organizations rationalize and prioritize their reform proposals and agenda in Latin America; how reform agendas are implemented and followed up (or not); how international dono…
The Legacy of Human Rights Violations in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay
Introduction Repression and the Discourse of Human Rights Violations in the Southern Cone Shaping the Public Sphere and the Legacy of Human Right Violations National Reconciliation and the Disruptive Potential of the Legacy of Human Rights Violations Restructuring the Realm of Human Rights in the Southern Cone The Multiple Refraction of the Various Institutional Paths Memory and Oblivion in the Redemocratized Southern Cone The Transformation of C…
Truth commissions, trials-or nothing? Policy options in democratic transitions
Gross human rights violations have constituted a hotly contested national issue in many recent transitions from authoritarianism to democracy. This article analyses how newly elected democratic governments have dealt with violations committed by officials of previous authoritarian regimes. Empirical evidence from around 30 (mainly) Latin American and African countries undergoing democratic transition after the mid-1970s shows that the government'…
Truth commissions, trials-or nothing? Policy options in democratic transitions
Gross human rights violations have constituted a hotly contested national issue in many recent transitions from authoritarianism to democracy. This article analyses how newly elected democratic governments have dealt with violations committed by officials of previous authoritarian regimes. Empirical evidence from around 30 (mainly) Latin American and African countries undergoing democratic transition after the mid-1970s shows that the government'…
A Conflict Does Not Rot”: State and Civil Society Responses to Civil War Offences in Mozambique
This article analyses how state and non-state actors have tried to address the human rights violations and war crimes committed during the civil war in Mozambique (1976–92). While the political elite opted for amnesty laws, and urban civil society organisations remained largely on the side-lines, in rural areas, war survivors and the post-war generations have been actively engaged in dealing with the violent past through practices commonly referr…
When Truth Commission Models Travel: Explaining the Norwegian Case
∞ This article explores ‘late justice’ in the context of settler democracies with a history of racism, using Norway as a case study. It examines the background for the Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established by the Norwegian Parliament in 2018 to investigate the consequences of historical and ongoing assimilation of the indigenous Sami people and two national minorities. I argue that although the Norwegian TRC was establi…
The Drivers of Transitional Justice: An Analytical Framework for Assessing the Role of Actors
The transitional justice (TJ) field has gone through phases in which the role of actors and their environments – or structure and agency, more broadly viewed – have been alternatively emphasised. This article privileges agency as the focal point of analysis. The main task is to conceptualise ways in which actors promote, or obstruct, transitional justice. Taking time and context into consideration, we construct a multi-level framework to explore …
The implementation of truth commission recommendations: Exploring the ‘beyond words’ database for Latin America
We know little about the processes surrounding the formulation and implementation of truth commission recommendations (TCRs). This article introduces the Beyond Words database, which systematically identifies and tracks the formulation and implementation processes behind 960 recommendations from 13 truth commissions established across Latin America between 1983 and 2012. The database offers information on factors shaping TCR formulation, identifi…
Un análisis de las reformas judiciales de Argentina, Chile y Uruguay
Este artículo trata sobre las reformas judiciales en Sudamérica, durante los años 90. Muestra que tanto en el caso de la Argentina como en el de Chile, las reformas a los códigos de procedimiento estuvieron motivadas por tres factores centrales, vinculados con el doble proceso de democratización y liberalización económica: i) la preocupación con la violación de derechos humanos que provenía de los pasados regímenes autoritarios; ii) el deseo de…
Legal development and human rights in Uruguay: 1985–2002
Conceptualizing the Legitimacy of Non-Transitional Truth Commissions: Norway and Canada Compared
Recent years have seen a new trend in the transitional justice field, as Western democracies establish truth commissions (TCs) to address harms against Indigenous and national-minority populations. The first, most prominent, and now archetypal of these “non-transitional” TCs emerged in Canada. The most recent have been in the Nordic countries, with Norway leading the way. We suggest that to be effective, these TCs face a distinctive challenge: se…
Drivers of Justice after Violent Conflict: An Introduction
Provides an introduction to a special issue that seeks to provide a better understanding of the political, judicial and social forces driving the establishment and operation of transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms after violent conflict
Truth commissions, trials-or nothing? Policy options in democratic transitions
Gross human rights violations have constituted a hotly contested national issue in many recent transitions from authoritarianism to democracy. This article analyses how newly elected democratic governments have dealt with violations committed by officials of previous authoritarian regimes. Empirical evidence from around 30 (mainly) Latin American and African countries undergoing democratic transition after the mid-1970s shows that the government'…
The Legacy of Human Rights Violations in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay
Introduction Repression and the Discourse of Human Rights Violations in the Southern Cone Shaping the Public Sphere and the Legacy of Human Right Violations National Reconciliation and the Disruptive Potential of the Legacy of Human Rights Violations Restructuring the Realm of Human Rights in the Southern Cone The Multiple Refraction of the Various Institutional Paths Memory and Oblivion in the Redemocratized Southern Cone The Transformation of C…
Søramerikanske militære for retten: Kva skal til
Introduction: The Accountability Function of the Courts in New Democracies
2003). Introduction: the accountability function of the courts in new democracies. Democratization: Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 1-6
Rule of Law in Latin America: The International Promotion of Judicial Reform
This volume analyzes the judicial reform processes funded by international donor organizations in Latin America. As billions of dollars are spent on judicial reform, it is pertinent to ask about the fate of these projects. The authors examine the way in which international organizations rationalize and prioritize their reform proposals and agenda in Latin America; how reform agendas are implemented and followed up (or not); how international dono…
Legal development and human rights in Uruguay: 1985–2002
Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Did the TRC Deliver? ed. Audrey R. Chapman and Hugo van der Merwe; Narrating Political Reconciliation: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Cla…
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is by far the most noted and praised truth commission in the world. It has served as a role model to many of the subsequent truth commissions set up worldwide, as well as inspired a vast bulk of scholarly literature. For those interested in the truth and reconciliation process in South Africa, or in truth commissions in general, two read-worthy books have appeared on the market that offe…
Un análisis de las reformas judiciales de Argentina, Chile y Uruguay
Este artículo trata sobre las reformas judiciales en Sudamérica, durante los años 90. Muestra que tanto en el caso de la Argentina como en el de Chile, las reformas a los códigos de procedimiento estuvieron motivadas por tres factores centrales, vinculados con el doble proceso de democratización y liberalización económica: i) la preocupación con la violación de derechos humanos que provenía de los pasados regímenes autoritarios; ii) el deseo de…
Puede la independencia judicial explicar la justicia postransicional
La justicia postransicional se inició en el Cono Sur de América Latina a mediados de la década de 1990 y gradualmente se ha expandido a otros países que buscan afrontar violaciones de derechos humanos cometidas durante los regímenes autoritarios que dominaron el continente desde la década de 1970 hasta inicios de la década de 1990. Para diferenciar los juicios de la transición de los juicios que se llevaron a cabo años después durante la fase de …
Drivers of Justice after Violent Conflict: An Introduction
Provides an introduction to a special issue that seeks to provide a better understanding of the political, judicial and social forces driving the establishment and operation of transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms after violent conflict
The Drivers of Transitional Justice: An Analytical Framework for Assessing the Role of Actors
The transitional justice (TJ) field has gone through phases in which the role of actors and their environments – or structure and agency, more broadly viewed – have been alternatively emphasised. This article privileges agency as the focal point of analysis. The main task is to conceptualise ways in which actors promote, or obstruct, transitional justice. Taking time and context into consideration, we construct a multi-level framework to explore …
A Conflict Does Not Rot”: State and Civil Society Responses to Civil War Offences in Mozambique
This article analyses how state and non-state actors have tried to address the human rights violations and war crimes committed during the civil war in Mozambique (1976–92). While the political elite opted for amnesty laws, and urban civil society organisations remained largely on the side-lines, in rural areas, war survivors and the post-war generations have been actively engaged in dealing with the violent past through practices commonly referr…
Wavering Courts: From Impunity to Accountability in Uruguay
Many Latin American countries are moving towards increased accountability for past human rights violations, and there is a growing global consensus that international law does not allow some crimes simply to be exempted from prosecution. Uruguay has had a deeply split response to these developments. While the Supreme Court and the political elite increasingly pushed to end impunity, the public actually ratified the 1985 amnesty law protecting the…
After Violence: Transitional Justice, Peace, and Democracy
Exploring Truth Commission Recommendations in a Comparative Perspective: Beyond Words Vol. I
Based on fieldwork that is unprecedented in scope, this two-volume project provides the first systematic study of the formulation and implementation of the recommendations of 13 Latin American truth commissions. Beyond Words Vol. I examines the variations in truth commission recommendations across 13 Latin American cases. Insights are provided regarding how the internal dynamics of truth commissions, as well as the political, social and economic …
When Truth Commission Models Travel: Explaining the Norwegian Case
∞ This article explores ‘late justice’ in the context of settler democracies with a history of racism, using Norway as a case study. It examines the background for the Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established by the Norwegian Parliament in 2018 to investigate the consequences of historical and ongoing assimilation of the indigenous Sami people and two national minorities. I argue that although the Norwegian TRC was establi…
Conceptualizing the Legitimacy of Non-Transitional Truth Commissions: Norway and Canada Compared
Recent years have seen a new trend in the transitional justice field, as Western democracies establish truth commissions (TCs) to address harms against Indigenous and national-minority populations. The first, most prominent, and now archetypal of these “non-transitional” TCs emerged in Canada. The most recent have been in the Nordic countries, with Norway leading the way. We suggest that to be effective, these TCs face a distinctive challenge: se…
The implementation of truth commission recommendations: Exploring the ‘beyond words’ database for Latin America
We know little about the processes surrounding the formulation and implementation of truth commission recommendations (TCRs). This article introduces the Beyond Words database, which systematically identifies and tracks the formulation and implementation processes behind 960 recommendations from 13 truth commissions established across Latin America between 1983 and 2012. The database offers information on factors shaping TCR formulation, identifi…
Women’s access to the bench in post-conflict autocratic states: Insights from Angola
Women constitute a large proportion of judges at all court levels in Angola. This influx of women judges has taken place in a period of post-civil war reconstruction under the auspices of a formerly left-leaning autocratic regime with a gender-friendly ideology and strong executive control. Combining a desk study and interviews with Angolan judges, we show that access to legal education, the large number of judicial vacancies, the introduction of…
Women judges in fragile states: State of the art and analytical framework
Women are entering courts as judges in increasing numbers, including in so-called ‘fragile states’. However, little research examines in-depth how women access and experience their role on the bench in these contexts. Based on a thorough review of existing literature, we propose an analytical framework that can help us understand how women access and experience their role on the bench in contexts of state fragility. Drawing on existing research t…
Political science (17 works) · Law (12 works) · Politics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Judicial and Constitutional Studies (7 works) · International Law and Human Rights (5 works) · Commission (4 works) · Economic Justice (4 works) · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics (4 works)