Transitional Justice measures and a long term reconciliation process go parallel to the development and strengthening of democratic structures in Europe. Consolidation, stability and sustainability of these structures depend to a significant extent on how trust in democratic institutions and an enhanced democratic culture has been built. In most European countries, a functioning rule of law, active citizen participation, equity, human rights implementation and monitoring as well as responsiveness of the political system are core criteria to measure the quality of democracies and at the same time they are core measures of transitional justice and reconciliation processes. Actors that enhance this process are multiple; governments, IGOs such as Council of Europe, OSCE, UN and EU as well as countless NGOs have over the past decades incorporated and implemented transitional justice measures that aim at leading to democracy. Tribunals, Truth and Reconciliation Committees, committees of inquiry, organized victim groups and many other mechanism and instruments are part of any new and old domestic democratic cultures around the world. Their inter-linkage and constant interference in politics have also led to a specific culture of human rights and hence of democracy in Europe. However, the quality of democracy between Finland, Belarus, Germany, Turkey, Spain or Ireland differs greatly and this can - among others-be linked to either a weak or strong process of transitional justice and reconciliation. Case studies and results from empirical research in Europe will be in the center of this presentation.
