ABSTRACT
Much has been written on restorative justice in democratic settings where ‘rule of law’ has been characterised by due process and human rights; however, a cursory glance at the literature will reveal limited critical engagement with the use of restorative justice in democratically emerging societies. Despite the fact that restorative justice has been used primarily as a micro-level theory concerned with the relationships between individuals, the remit of restorative justice has expanded from repairing the harm of single incidents between individuals to responding to the needs of a harmed society. This chapter seeks to outline a number of key tensions in the application of restorative justice in situations of protracted conflict and, in doing so, introduces the key issues that contributors will be tackling in their chapters within this collection.
