Human Rights Violations and Citizen Support for Accountability in Guatemala

• In Event: Learning from Global Democratic Challenges and Innovations Mini-Conference III: Democracy, Dictatorship, and Democratic Backsliding in Central America

Abstract

Establishing a common historical ground about past human rights violations is often presented as one of the main benefits of transitional justice. It is often assumed that increasing citizens’ awareness of past violence will consolidate the post-conflict political transition by promoting shared values of non-repetition, respect for human rights and accountability. However, this assumption has yet to be empirically tested. Using several experiments embedded in two surveys with a total of 1,100 respondents in Guatemala, this article analyzes whether knowledge of human rights violations committed by the military during the country’s armed conflict affects Guatemalan’s judgement towards the militarization of public safety, accountability, and preferences for systems of government. Contrary to the assumptions of the transitional justice literature, we find that increasing awareness of past human rights violations committed by the military does little to promote citizens’ support for accountability. Similarly to other Latin American citizens, Guatemalan citizens tend to display a preference for punitive and militarized security policies and place the fight against corruption at the center of their policy preferences.

Authors

• Joséphine Lechartre, Tulane University

• Regina A. Bateson, University of Colorado - Boulder