In The Justice Facade: Trials of Transition in Cambodia, Alexander Laban Hinton examines the extent to which transitional justice and international law respond to local understandings of ‘justice’ through an analysis of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). This is a welcome and highly useful contribution to the field, finds Ebru Demir, that invites readers to critically unpack their own assumptions and consider how the neglect of power and the complexities of everyday life can serve to offer little more than a ‘justice facade’

Demir, Ebru

LSE Research Online

Book	Review:	The	Justice	Facade:	Trials	of	Transitionin	Cambodia	by	Alexander	Laban	HintonIn	The	Justice	Facade:	Trials	of	Transition	in	Cambodia,	Alexander	Laban	Hinton	examines	the	extent	to	whichtransitional	justice	and	international	law	respond	to	local	understandings	of	‘justice’	through	an	analysis	of	theExtraordinary	Chambers	in	the	Courts	of	Cambodia	(ECCC).	This	is	a	welcome	and	highly	useful	contribution	to	thefield,	finds	Ebru	Demir,	that	invites	readers	to	critically	unpack	their	own	assumptions	and	consider	how	the	neglectof	power	and	the	complexities	of	everyday	life	can	serve	to	offer	little	more	than	a	‘justice	facade’.	The	Justice	Facade:	Trials	of	Transition	in	Cambodia.	Alexander	Laban	Hinton.	Oxford	University	Press.2018.Find	this	book:	In	The	Justice	Facade,	Alexander	Laban	Hinton	questions	the	extent	to	whichtransitional	justice	and	international	law	respond	to	local	understandings	of	‘justice’	byusing	the	case	of	Cambodia.	Hinton	mainly	scrutinises	the	role	of	the	ExtraordinaryChambers	in	the	Courts	of	Cambodia	(ECCC)	in	providing	‘justice’.	The	bookhighlights	the	tensions	between	local	understandings	and	experiences	of	justice	andthose	that	the	hybrid	tribunal	is	aiming	to	achieve.	By	exploring	the	ways	in	which	theprocedures	within	the	ECCC	conflict	with	the	justice	conceptions	of	Cambodians,Hinton	challenges	readers	to	deconstruct	their	own	transitional	justice	imaginaries	andponder	on	the	assumptions	which	are	naturalised	within	them.The	Justice	Facade	is	not	only	the	title	of	the	book,	but	also	a	new	term	proposed	forthe	field	of	transitional	justice.	Hinton	uses	‘the	justice	facade’	as	a	metaphor‘highlighting	the	exteriorization	and	the	imagined	fulfilment	of	the	imaginary’suniversalist	dream,	imperative,	and	desire’	(21).	Another	conceptual	contribution	of	thebook	to	the	transitional	justice	terminology	is	the	‘transitional	justice	imaginary’.	Thisasserts	a	progressive	aspiration	which	is	based	on	an	imagined	transformation	from	authoritarianism	to	democracy	insocieties	after	conflict.	The	transitional	justice	imaginary,	in	contrast	with	a	‘phenomenological	transitional	justice’,glosses	over	the	lived	experiences	embedded	in	historical,	social	and	political	contexts	by	assuming	an	invariableimaginary	with	liberal	democratic	ends.	According	to	Hinton,	the	transitional	justice	imaginary	provides	a	distancedand	surface-level	view	which	masks	power	and	the	complexities	of	everyday	experience:	that	is,	it	offers	only	ajustice	facade	(25).Image	Credit:	49th	day	of	the	Duch-trial	before	the	Extraordinary	Chambers	in	the	Courts	of	Cambodia,	22	July	2009,	courtesyLSE Review of Books: Book Review: The Justice Facade: Trials of Transition in Cambodia by Alexander Laban Hinton Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2018-06-12Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2018/06/12/book-review-the-justice-facade-trials-of-transition-in-cambodia-by-alexander-laban-hinton/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/of	the	Extraordinary	Chambers	in	the	Courts	of	Cambodia	(Khmer	Rouge	Tribunal	CC	BY	2.0)The	transitional	justice	imaginary	brings	forward	the	idea	of	progress	‘in	the	sense	of	a	singular	movement	from	atime	and	place	to	‘‘a	better’’	time	and	space’	(63).	This	is	exactly	where	the	transitional	justice	imaginary	and	EdwardSaid’s	notion	of	‘Orientalism’	intersect	in	the	depoliticisation	and	dehistoricisation	of	the	past.	In	the	case	ofCambodia,	for	example,	the	transitional	justice	imaginary	depicts	the	nation	through	an	Orientalist	discourse	under	afacade-like	gaze,	such	that	Cambodia	is	often	represented	as	‘a	culture	of	violence’,	‘a	despotism’,	‘a	culture	ofimpunity’	and	as	savage	(17).	This	imaginary	is	‘counterposed	to	their	binary	‘‘Western’’	(Occident,	Civilization,Globalization)’,	characterised	by	the	‘rule	of	law’,	‘good	governance’,	‘peace’	and	‘democracy’	(17).	Thus,	(rule	of)	lawis	perceived	as	a	neutral	and	universal	way	to	deal	with	past	atrocities	in	post-conflict	societies.	As	highlighted	in	thewider	literature,	the	perception	of	‘the	depoliticized	way	in	which	(transitional)	justice	can	operate’	is	problematic(Nagy	2008,	279).	‘Regard(ing)	the	law	as	playing	a	role	that	is	distinct	from	that	of	politics’	masks	power	(Turner2013,	195)	and,	as	Hinton	argues,	diverts	‘the	attention	from	geopolitical	interest,	domestic	manipulations,	andstructural	violence’	(7).Structural	violence	is	glossed	over	by	the	transitional	justice	imaginary	in	this	regard.	This	is	one	of	the	key	pointsthat	is	underlined	by	the	defence	at	the	ECCC.	The	Tribunal’s	narrow	focus	on	Democratic	Kampuchea	(DK	–	theperiod	of	Khmer	Rouge	rule)	during	the	period	1975-79,	according	to	the	defence	team,	‘masks	critical	backgrounddynamics	and	root	causes	of	the	violence’	(43).	Hinton	points	out	that:French	colonialism,	the	Vietnam	War,	Vietnamese,	Thai,	and	Asian	regional	interest,	Soviet,	US,	andChinese	geopolitical	interests,	class	antagonisms,	poverty,	landlessness,	Cold	War	politics,	and	the	USinterference	in	and	carpet-bombing	of	Cambodia	during	the	civil	warall	become	invisible	when	the	ECCC	neglects	the	reasons	facilitating	the	Khmer	Rouge’s	rise	to	power	(43).	Here,the	book	aligns	itself	with	the	critical	literature	within	the	transitional	justice	field	criticising	transitional	justice	for	beingvery	short-term	and	for	ignoring	the	reasons	that	triggered	the	violence	in	the	first	place	(see	also	Gready	2010;Gready	and	Robins,	2014;	and	Evans,	2016).The	narrow	focus	of	the	Tribunal	on	the	DK	period	also	creates	monolithic	notions	of	good	and	evil.	Hinton,	alongwith	his	preceding	book	Man	or	Monster?	The	Trial	of	a	Khmer	Rouge	Torturer,	objects	to	the	binary	categorieswhich	the	transitional	justice	imaginary	conceives.	Hinton	presents	examples	illustrating	the	fact	that	a	number	ofKhmer	Rouge	victims	between	1975	and	1979	were	themselves	Khmer	Rouge	before	this	specific	period.	Such	‘greyzones’	were	immediately	dismissed	by	the	ECCC	because	of	the	Tribunal’s	temporal	jurisdiction	(183),	whichdiscards	the	root	causes	of	the	violence	and	also	creates	categorical	abstractions	alienated	from	real-lifeexperiences.	The	victim	and	the	perpetrator	are	often	sharply	polarised	and	positioned	as	oppositional	in	thetransitional	justice	imaginary.	To	become	a	‘true’	victim,	pure	innocence	(meaning	‘faultless	passive	victimhood’)	isrequired	(see	also	Baines,	2011;	McEvoy	and	McConnachie,	2012;	Helms,	2013;	and	Simić,	2016).	Hinton	calls	this‘justice	as	deformation’,	which	edits	out	complex	local	realities	and	lived	experiences,	and	constructs	and	reproducesvictimhood	itself	(184).Based	on	his	almost	decade-long	experience	in	the	field,	Hinton	scrutinises	the	meaning	of	justice	in	Cambodiansociety.	Having	conducted	more	than	300	interviews,	he	elaborates	the	local	understandings	of	‘justice’	and	finds	adisparity	between	these	and	global	understandings.	In	Cambodian	society,	in	contrast	with	the	transitional	justiceimaginary,	a	court	is	not	a	place	for	reconciliation	or	for	justice.	Such	an	adversarial	space	creates	a	barrier	betweenperpetrators	and	victims	on	the	way	to	reconciliation	(238).	For	example,	in	the	understanding	of	‘Karma’	(which	isprevalent	in	Cambodia),	anger	and	antagonism	are	pointless	since	the	people	who	commit	bad	deeds	will	bear	theconsequences	of	their	acts.	At	the	ECCC,	people	who	lost	their	loved	ones	mostly	try	to	learn	the	places	where	theyare	buried.	This	is	because	it	is	believed	that	the	dead	can	only	be	reborn	if	their	bodies	undergo	a	cremationceremony	led	by	monks.	Thus,	we	see	in	the	book	that	the	principal	aim	of	witnesses	is	to	ask	the	perpetratorswhereabouts	their	loved	ones	might	have	been	buried,	whereas	the	Tribunal	instructs	witnesses	and	‘victims’	toframe	their	statements	strictly	around	the	facts	(195).	The	transitional	justice	imaginary	ultimately	tries	to	directsociety	in	a	less	Buddhist	and	more	secular	direction,	which	remains	distant	from	Cambodians’	own	conceptions	of‘justice’.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: The Justice Facade: Trials of Transition in Cambodia by Alexander Laban Hinton Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2018-06-12Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2018/06/12/book-review-the-justice-facade-trials-of-transition-in-cambodia-by-alexander-laban-hinton/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/Consequently,	the	concept	of	‘the	justice	facade’,	among	others	offered	in	the	book,	is	very	useful	in	describing	theidealised	imaginaries	which	alienate	lived	experiences	on	the	ground.	Local	expectations	and	understandings	areedited	out	or	masked	by	the	justice	facade.	Hinton	asks	readers	to	unpack	their	own	transitional	justice	imaginariesand	their	facade-like	renderings	to	consider	more	deeply	the	meanings	and	purposes	of	‘justice’,	‘peacebuilding’	andtransitional	justice	measures.	This	book	is	therefore	a	very	welcome	contribution	to	critical	transitional	justice	studies.Ebru	Demir	is	a	third-year	PhD	student	and	Associate	Tutor	at	University	of	Sussex,	Law	School.	Her	researchareas	are	transitional	justice;	transformative	justice;	women,	peace	and	security;	and	peacebuilding	in	Bosnia	andHerzegovina.	Read	more	by	Ebru	Demir.Note:	This	review	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	and	not	the	position	of	the	LSE	Review	of	Books	blog,	or	of	theLondon	School	of	Economics.	LSE Review of Books: Book Review: The Justice Facade: Trials of Transition in Cambodia by Alexander Laban Hinton Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2018-06-12Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2018/06/12/book-review-the-justice-facade-trials-of-transition-in-cambodia-by-alexander-laban-hinton/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/

Book review: the justice facade: trials of transition in Cambodia by Alexander Laban Hinton

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Book review: the justice facade: trials of transition in Cambodia by Alexander Laban Hinton

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