Conclusion

Abstract

The concluding chapter looks at what effect international and domestic war crimes trials have had on Croatian society. It asks whether the Croatian process of transitional justice was successful? The effect of the process on norms and narratives related to the Homeland War conflict was ambiguous. It took place in the context of widespread cynicism and justice narratives struggled to compete with the dominant war narrative, unless they were aligned with it. A societal reckoning with the past did not occur, although deliberation did happen with some segments of society. Using a deliberative lens, the chapter then compares the findings to other instances of transitional justice—regionally and temporally—and proposes lessons for future endeavours. The Croatian case shows the expressivist potential that transitional justice has for transforming societal narratives, but also its limitations when facing localised complexities.