The double transition of transitional justice in Peru: confronting the appeal of iron-fist policies.

Peru is facing a crisis of citizen insecurity that stems in part from the rule of law deficits connected to judicial problems and corruption that transitional justice mechanisms sought to remedy but failed to accomplish. This insecurity has fuelled the appeal of Keiko Fujimori, daughter and political heir of the authoritarian regime that ruled Peru in the 1990s, who offers iron-fist policies to defeat crime. To understand how unresolved human security concerns – such as citizen security – are potentially threatening to the consolidation of transitional justice policies, transitional justice needs to be conceptualised as encompassing two related but distinct transitions. While the first phase addresses the injustices from the immediate aftermath of a conflict or fall of an authoritarian regime, the second transition must address the insecurities that can potentially threaten any progress the state and society have made towards establishing democracy and rule of law. It is argued here that the failure to address these insecurities risks the successful completion of the second transition in Peru, and can potentially cause authoritarian reversals by enhancing the appeal of politicians that peddle law-and-order policies to address them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]