Transitioning where? The ambivalent post-dictatorship path of the Chilean police

• In Event: Decolonising State Crime and Transitional Justice

Abstract

When studying the post-dictatorship police reforms in Chile, critical issues emerge regarding the definition of transitional justice (TJ). The Chilean police, Carabineros de Chile, actively participated in systematic human rights violations during the 17-year dictatorship the country endured. After this, they underwent various reforms to enable them to work under the new liberal democratic capitalist state rules. Nonetheless, this process has not been straightforward or linear. Since the return to democracy, numerous counter reforms have defied advances in transparency and accountability in the name of security. Recently, this has been the case of a project aimed at regulating the use of force in the police. Presenting adaptations to the use of force standards that have raised concern among human rights experts.
The context-dependent road has led to constant reframing what we knew—or thought we knew—of the police role in TJ. In this sense, the idea of a clear-cut time frame defined by the unidirectional action of transitioning from one state to another must be questioned: Is it possible to lock a date for the justice transition's beginning and end? From what to what is the transition? Moreover, what is the role of the police in TJ? Are the police transitioning? How and for what? Carabineros’ case depicts how the TJ concept is filled with ambiguity and ambivalence in practice, inviting us to rethink its applications and implications in the complex contexts of peripheral countries and their police institutions.

Author

• Maria Jesus Valenzuela, University of Oxford