Determinants of Attitudes towards Transitional Justice: An Empirical Analysis of the Spanish Case

Abstract

Much has been said about the institutional determinants of transitional justice (TJ), yet we still know little about the determinants of citizens' attitudes towards restorative policies aimed at addressing human rights violations of the past. This paper draws on an original survey of a representative sample of Spanish citizens conducted in 2008. One year earlier, the Spanish socialist government had approved the so-called "Law of Historical Memory", aimed at providing restitution for victims of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Francoist dictatorship (1939-1975). We analyze individual-level attitudes towards a set of TJ policies (i.e. truth commissions, trials, and symbolic reparations) in a comprehensive overview of the field. We study the effect of different sets of variables: individual socio-demographic and ideological factors, family and socialization variables, and context-related factors. Individual ideology, family victimization during the dictatorship and regional context appear as highly relevant in explaining individual attitudes towards TJ policies.Peer reviewe