Religious Leaders and Transitions to Democracy

• In Event: State Repression and Human Rights II (Virtual Session)

Abstract

How do religious leaders advance or constrain transitions from authoritarian to democratic regimes? Anecdotally, figures such as Desmond Tutu in South Africa are renowned for giving their leadership and moral authority to transitional justice processes. Yet little scholarship has systematically examined religious participation and its consequences during these contentious periods in which democracy consolidates. This project argues that religious leaders’ local embeddedness and public influence makes them uniquely positioned to generate evidence and give persuasive, credible testimony during human rights trials. However, these contributions depend on their stance toward underlying human rights violations. Drawing on original, systematic data collection from the proceedings of every Argentine human rights trial from 2006-2017, the project describes the ways in which the country’s Catholic leaders engaged with transitional justice, and the consequences of this engagement for prosecution of human rights violations occurring during that country’s Dirty War.

Author

• Pearce Edwards, Carnegie Mellon University