New Books in Sociology Maja Davidović, "Governing the Past: 'Never Again' and the Transitional Justice Project" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Dec 5, 2025
Maja Davidović, a scholar specializing in transitional justice and post-conflict governance, discusses her insightful new book. She challenges the effectiveness of transitional justice in soothing conflict-related anxieties within communities. Drawing on personal experiences from the former Yugoslavia, Maja explores how these justice efforts often heighten fears of renewed conflict instead of alleviating them. She also highlights grassroots movements for peace, emphasizing the importance of reclaiming collective memories and building trust across fragmented societies.
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Bosnia As A Global Policy Laboratory
- Bosnia-Herzegovina became a testing ground for international transitional justice and state-building after Dayton in 1995.
- Continuous international institutions, like the Office of the High Representative, extended foreign oversight and lawmaking powers long-term.
Personal Path Into Transitional Justice
- Maja Davidović grew up in the region and first learned about Srebrenica at NGO summer school because families and schools avoided the topic.
- That personal exposure led her to study international relations, genocide studies, and transitional justice academically.
Two Linked Global Imperatives
- The two imperatives are ensuring peaceful futures ('Never Again') and dealing with the past via transitional justice.
- Transitional justice links these causally by promising prosecutions, truth, reparations, and institutional reform to prevent recurrence.