Description
Popkin analyzes the role of international actors, notably the United States and the United Nations, and the contributions and limitations of international assistance in efforts to establish accountability and reform the justice system in El Salvador. The author discusses the essential role of civil society in attempts to establish accountability and an effective justice system for all, and looks at the reasons for and the consequences of the limited role played by Salvadorean civil society. She also addresses the challenges facing democratic reform efforts in the context of a postwar crime wave.Peace Without Justice grew out of Margaret Popkin's extensive experience working as a human rights advocate in El Salvador during the armed conflict and interviews with a variety of Salvadorans and others involved in justice reform and in negotiating and implementing the peace accords.
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Despite the fact that El Salvador's decades long civil war has finally ended with the signing of the peace accords and the incorporation into government of some of the FMLN (the major rebel group throughout the 1980s), the El Salvadoran judiciary, known for its inaction in prosecuting military and police abuses, remains highly unresponsive to democratic pressures. After looking at the evolution of the judiciary from the time of Spanish colonization through the civil war, the author examines the impediments to judicial reform in the country and finds the main reasons in the partisan nature of reform efforts. She also looks at U.S. initiatives in the area, and argues that because of the role that U.S. policy makers played in the war, in addition to their continued support of the powerful, the U.S. is particularly unsuited to help in the reform process. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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