Camila De Gamboa

In this article, I will try to establish the kind of responsibility that a political community with a past of injustice and suffering must assume in a democratic transition. Even though any society with a troublesome past has to take responsibility and to repair it, this article will analyze the kind of responsibility of a political community in the process of transition to a democratic society, after massive violations of human rights cause directly by a repressive regime and/or its opponents in an armed conflict. The article has two sections. In the first section, I will analyze the relation between the construction of moral and political agency and the political systems where agency is developed. I will defend the idea that the best political system to guarantee the developing of responsible political and moral agencies is within an inclusive and egalitarian democracy. In the second section, I will study three aspects of responsibility in a transitional democracy: political responsibility, moral responsibility and criminal responsibility. Key words: democratic transition, inclusive democracy, transitional justice, political responsibility, moral responsibility and criminal responsibility.

El artículo reflexiona sobre las políticas de la memoria que deberían desarrollarse en sociedades donde han ocurrido masivas violaciones de derechos humanos, y cuyos procesos se guían por los principios normativos de la justicia transicional. Se analizan primero los conceptos de memoria e historia, y la forma como el Holocausto transformó sus tareas en el siglo xx; luego se examinan dos modelos de responsabilidad propuestos por Iris Marion Young, y se propone cómo usarlos en la justicia transicional. Finalmente, se explican las tareas de la política de la memoria en estos contextos.

In this dissertation I defend the idea that what we are as moral and as political beings is in part a product of the social and political environment in which we grow up. The political community plays an important role in the way we develop our moral character and political agency; therefore, one cannot understand or explain the moral character of an individual without the social and political context where this character is developed. I argue that if we live in democratic inclusive political communities, people are well equipped to mutually respect themselves and others as equal moral beings and citizens. In oppressive regimes people can develop defective ways to treat themselves and others personally and politically. My aim with this dissertation is to discuss two important and complex notions: forgiveness and political reconciliation. Both terms constantly appear in the theoretical works about, as well as in case studies of peace processes and transitional democracies. I claim that forgiveness and political reconciliation are two restorative actions to deal with the past and to break the traumatic memory caused by individual or political offenses. Political reconciliation differs from forgiveness because the former is a collective practice and policy while the latter is a personal act and virtue. I argue that in a democratic inclusive regime, forgiveness and political reconciliation must respond to the equal worth of human beings. These restorative measures can be exercised in context where the moral and political dignity of human beings can be ensured. Forgiveness and political reconciliation share the necessity to evaluate the past, whether this reflection implies personal wrongdoings or the unjust history of the political community. This evaluation of the past guarantees: first, the moral or political recognition of the offense; second, the possibility to restore and honor the dignity of victims; and finally, processes of personal and political transformation