Join the Kellogg Institute in celebrating the launch of this groundbreaking work produced through Kellogg's Notre Dame Violence and Transitional Justice (V-TJ) Policy and Practice Research Lab. Accountability Shock: Why Transitional Justice Prevents Criminal Wars in New Democracies (Cambridge University Press, 2026) was written by Kellogg faculty fellow Guillermo Trejo, along with Juan Albarracín and Lucia Tiscornia, who will all be present to share highlights from the book, followed by commentary from our guest panelists.
Accountability Shock explains why some “Third Wave” democracies emerged peacefully while others became highly violent, arguing that robust transitional justice processes play a decisive role. Drawing on six Latin American cases, it shows how combining truth commissions with prosecutions can break state impunity, reshape the use of coercion in new democracies, and prevent criminal violence tied to authoritarian legacies.
Co-Authors:
Guillermo Trejo
Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame
Kellogg Faculty Fellow
Juan Albarracín
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois–Chicago
Former Kellogg PhD Fellow
Lucia Tiscornia
Associate Professor, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin
Former Kellogg PhD Fellow
Discussants:
Carolina Jiménez Sandoval
President
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Scott Mainwaring
Eugene P. and Helen Conley Professor of Political Science
Kellogg Faculty Fellow
Presented by the Kellogg Institute with cosponsorship by the Department of Political Science.