PhD position Building Peace: Transitional Justice in Early Modern France 1.0 FTE

Specialty areas: early modern history, French history, legal history, peacebuilding, religious conflict and coexistence

Applications are invited for a fully funded, four-year PhD position within the research project Building Peace: Transitional Justice in Early Modern France, financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and led by Dr David van der Linden.

How can societies achieve a lasting peace in the wake of civil war? The United Nations advocate transitional justice, which aims to address wartime grievances and promote reconciliation by means of prosecution, truth and reconciliation committees, reparations, and memorials. Yet transitional justice has a far longer history, dating back at least to the early modern period. The aim of this project is to investigate the transitional justice mechanisms created in the aftermath of the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598), and to study the long-term impact of such efforts on religious peace and reconciliation.

In collaboration with the other project members, the PhD candidate will work on their own sub-project Trial and Error: Transitional Justice in the Bipartisan Courts of Early Modern France. Transitional justice scholars typically argue that criminal justice is crucial in overcoming conflict, because it allows citizens to settle disputes in court rather than resort to vengeful violence. Victims are also more likely to leave the past behind when they see perpetrators are being held to account. The PhD candidate will test these assumptions by examining the bipartisan tribunals of early modern France, known as the chambres de l’édit (Chambers of the Edict). Staffed by both Protestant and Catholic judges, they had to ensure an even-handed resolution of disputes arising from the religious wars, including the restitution of confiscated property, disputes over the placement of churches, and lawsuits that threatened the regime of religious coexistence. Research will focus on the chambre de l’édit of Languedoc, a region with above-average concentrations of Protestants and ongoing religious tensions after 1598.

This PhD project offers a unique opportunity to work in an international research environment as well as to acquire valuable teaching experience: the PhD candidate is expected to conduct some teaching in the second and third year of appointment. In addition, the PhD will collaborate with the other team members to develop a lesson programme on transitional justice.

The full text of the proposal is available at http://www.dcvanderlinden.com/building-peace

For additional queries regarding the project, please get in touch with the project’s PI, Dr David van der Linden.