Populism and transitional justice: talking the talk without walking the walk

• Published in: Acta politica Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 778 - 796
• Main Authors: Dias, António Luís, Manucci, Luca, Raimundo, Filipa Alves
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK 01.10.2024; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: Authoritarianism; Comparative Politics; European Politics; Justice; Legislatures; Original Article; Parliaments; Political Science; Political Science and International Relations; Political Science and International Studies; Populism; Talking; Transitional justice; Walking; Democratization; Populism; Memory politics; Transitional justice
• ISSN: 0001-6810; 1741-1416
• DOI: 10.1057/s41269-023-00307-5

The growing success of populist parties around the world has generated heated debates about memory politics and the legacies of authoritarian regimes. As the case of Hungary shows, however, the weaponization of history to justify a populist division of society does not necessarily translate into the approval of Transitional Justice (TJ) laws. Does the growing presence of populist actors in parliaments have any impact on the adoption of TJ laws? We answer this question by analyzing a unique dataset of 27 third wave democracies from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, between 1975 and 2020. We show that populist parties ‘talk the talk’ but do not ‘walk the walk’: the higher their presence in parliament, the lower the chances of the approval of TJ laws. This remains true even when parliaments show a strong presence of parties that normally approve a higher number of TJ laws because historically they opposed the previous authoritarian regime.