The [Hidden] Costs of War: Rape Culture Awareness and The Effects of Transitional Justice on Victims of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
Name: Morgan Ann Malone
Major: Political Science
Minor: Spanish
Advisor: Michele Leiby, Erum Haider
This independent study project examined the following research question: Does the robustness of transitional justice programs have an impact on the level and quality of redress for victims of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV)? The subsequent hypothesis crafted for this project reads as follows: The more robust a transitional justice program is in terms of countering rape culture, the higher the level and quality of victim redress will be. The methodology for this project includes a case selection process by which I examined various case studies that experienced severe levels of conflict-related sexual violence between 1989 and 2019, followed by a narrowing-down process that eventually led to my comparative case selection. After selecting the case studies – Sierra Leone and Liberia – I then examined both countries’ truth and reconciliation commissions (TRC) after their respective civil conflicts with a set of data schema, evaluating whether each TRC was robust in terms of its level of rape culture awareness. I then used a similar coding schema for the dependent variable, in which I examined levels of CRSV victim redress and reform in the years after the truth commissions’ completion. Finally, I found that while both countries had significant margins of error in terms of a robust, fleshed out truth commission, Sierra Leone saw slightly higher levels of victim healing and redress post-civil war as compared with Liberia.
Posted in Comments Enabled, Independent Study, Symposium 2023 on April 14, 2023.
4 responses to “The [Hidden] Costs of War: Rape Culture Awareness and The Effects of Transitional Justice on Victims of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence”
Related Posts
Related Areas of Study
Political Science
The study of power, with concentrations in U.S. politics, international relations, political theory and comparative politics.
Major Minor
Congratulations, Morgan! I am very proud of the work you’ve been able to do. This is a very difficult area of scholarship and you approached it with thoughtfulness, rigor, and compassion.
Thank you so much, Dr. Leiby – it was such a pleasure and honor to embark on this research with you!
Morgan, I am so proud of you for all that you have accomplished the last four years at Wooster. I am excited to see what the future holds for you.
thank you so much dad. i love you 💜