United States law and policy on transitional justice principles, politics, and pragmatics Zachary D. Kaufman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

In this book Zachary D. Kaufman explores the U.S. government's support for, or opposition to, certain transitional justice institutions. By first presenting an overview of transitional justice options (such as war crimes tribunals) and then analyzing six historical case studies, Kaufman evaluates why and how the United States has pursued particular transitional justice options since World War II. This book challenges the 'legalist' paradigm, which postulates that liberal states pursue war crimes tribunals because their decision-makers hold a principled commitment to the rule of law. Kaufman develops an alternative theory, 'prudentialism', which contends that any state (liberal or illiberal) may support bona fide war crimes tribunals.