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This thesis examines feminist engagement with, and gendered outcomes of, transitional justice in Chile, Northern Ireland, and Colombia. The focus throughout is twofold. Firstly, the thesis examines the mobilization of women and feminists in each jurisdiction to influence legal change in transition. In particular, the definition of violence and injustice to be ended by transition articulated by feminist and women's organizations is explored. Secondly, doctrinal analysis examines provision for truth, justice, reparations and institutional reform in transition, in order to identify legal definitions of the violence and injustice to be ended by transition. The doctrinal analysis reveals the extent to which women's gender-specific experiences of violence and injustice are recognized and addressed by legal change in transition. Feminist and legal definitions of violence and injustice in transition are thereby juxtaposed. Analysis proceeds with particular attention to the legal treatment of violence against women and the legal regulation of women's reproductive lives. These two issues have been cited for priority concern in transnational feminist campaigning over the past two decades. Similarly, the international human rights legal framework has adapted considerably over the same period to provide express recognition of a range of rights women with respect to violence against women and women's reproductive lives. The cases under study involve a substantial temporal range: from the Chilean transition to democracy in 1990, to the more recent transition to non-violent conflict in Northern Ireland, to the contemporary process of transitional justice in Colombia. Analysis reveals the changing tapestry of international law underpinning gender and transition over this period, in respect of women's human rights, and more demanding standards of accountability for harms of the past. Further, analysis reveals how this evolving legal context has impacted the terms of feminist engagement with, and gendered outcomes of, legal change in transition. The thesis contends that, over the course of two decades, feminist and legal articulations of violence and injustice in transition have been brought closer together through feminist-informed developments in international human rights law. As the practice of transitional justice has expanded and become increasingly standardized through the influence of international law, feminist organizations have established themselves transnationally and locally as players in the design of legal change in transition. The thesis concludes by considering how feminist and legal understandings of violence and injustice to be ended by transition might be brought together more comprehensively, in a feminist law of transitional justice. However, the case studies reveal the added responsibility and potential costs of feminist engagement with transitional justice engendered by the emergence of feminist organizations as players in the negotiation of legal change in transition. In an increasingly complex political and legal landscape, the thesis ultimately concludes against a feminist legal template for transitional justice. Instead, the thesis proposes the feminist pursuit of justice in transition, and outlines four key principles to guide such engagement.

The main focus of this study is Benhabib' s concepts of the 'concrete other' and 'interactive' universalism, Cornell's 'ethical' feminist thought and Nedelsky's argument on 'rights as relationship'. The need for an affirmation of the feminine is emphasised. I argue that we should strive towards a 'new choreography of sexual difference' based on the ethical view that 'woman' cannot be described in the present. She is the beyond. My study explore the implications of ethical feminism for the possibility of the transformation of a legal system and society as a whole. In this regard it lays particular emphasis on Derrida's concept of 'justice as aporia' and justice as limit to a legal system. I discuss pornography as a concrete example of texts that may either frustrate transformation or contribute to it. I argue in . this regard that pornography should not be banned but that access to pornography should be subjected to restrictions. This approach will serve the ambigious nature of pornography as both a threat to and a vehicle for the exploration of the feminine in contemporary society. / Private Law / LL.M.

The main focus of this study is Benhabib' s concepts of the 'concrete other' and 'interactive' universalism, Cornell's 'ethical' feminist thought and Nedelsky's argument on 'rights as relationship'. The need for an affirmation of the feminine is emphasised. I argue that we should strive towards a 'new choreography of sexual difference' based on the ethical view that 'woman' cannot be described in the present. She is the beyond. My study explore the implications of ethical feminism for the possibility of the transformation of a legal system and society as a whole. In this regard it lays particular emphasis on Derrida's concept of 'justice as aporia' and justice as limit to a legal system. I discuss pornography as a concrete example of texts that may either frustrate transformation or contribute to it. I argue in . this regard that pornography should not be banned but that access to pornography should be subjected to restrictions. This approach will serve the ambigious nature of pornography as both a threat to and a vehicle for the exploration of the feminine in contemporary society. / Private Law / LL.M.

This thesis is primarily concerned with the distribution of quotas in higher education and public employment within identified beneficiary groups. In a system of quotas based on preferential treatment of groups, the question about which members of the group must benefit over others is a crucial one. One of the main themes in the thesis is to critically analyse the judicial understanding about the nature of these groups. The homogeneity (in backwardness) that is attached to beneficiary groups in differing degrees is challenged in the thesis using the examples of Scheduled Castes and Muslims within the Other Backward Classes category. The differences within beneficiary groups have great significance for the fairness of India’s reservation policies. By ignoring internal differences, the most marginalised groups are left behind in terms of accessing the benefits of reservations. I have argued that any attempt to address the issue of sub-classification must begin by recognising multiple axis of marginalisation within the framework of intersectionality. This lack of sufficient engagement with the issue of sub-classification highlights the failure of the Supreme Court of India to develop a normative framework within which reservations might be viewed. This lack of normative clarity informs spheres of reservations like higher education and public employment along with according homogenous treatment to beneficiary groups internally. The Supreme Court has viewed reservations in higher education and public employment as essentially performing the same function. I have argued that reservations in these spheres perform different functions and the resulting obligations on the state in terms of constitutional justifications must also differ. While the demands for sub-classification present an opportunity to make distribution of reservations fairer, it also exposes the limitation of reservations as a tool of social transformation.