INTRODUCTION

Democratic transitional justice is almost as old as democracy itself. In 411 b.c. and then again in 404–403 b.c., the Athenians saw the overthrow of democracy by an oligarchy, followed by defeat of the oligarchs and restoration of democracy. In each case, the return to democracy went together with retributive measures against the oligarchs. In 403, the Athenians also took steps toward restitution of property that had been confiscated by the oligarchic regime. The next episode of transitional justice occurred more than two thousand years later, in the English Restoration.

The Athenians had two episodes of transitional justice that followed closely upon each other. It seems likely that after the first episode some learning took place, shaping the next occurrence. After the collapse of the first oligarchy in 411, the Athenians restored the pre-oligarchic democracy, carried out harsh retribution, and enacted new laws to deter future oligarchs from trying to take power. What they did not do was to attack the root causes of the oligarchic coup. In 403, the returning democrats reacted differently. On the one hand, they enacted constitutional changes to eliminate features that had brought democracy into disrepute. On the other hand, they pulled their punches in dealing with the oligarchs, preferring the forward-looking goal of social reconciliation over the backward-looking goal of retribution.

ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY

To understand the two transitions and the decisions taken in their aftermath, we have to go back to the beginning of Athenian democracy almost two hundred years earlier.