The Historical Relevance and Socio-political Function of the Brazilian Truth Commission (2012-2014) and Reception of the Final Report

本研究项目的重点是巴西国家真相委员会（以下简称NTC）于2014年12月发布的最后报告。巴西长期以来一直对其军事历史保持沉默，这与人权问责的全球趋势背道而驰。全国过渡委员会的最后报告将是关于巴西军事独裁期间（1964-1985年）国家工作人员系统侵犯人权行为的第一份全面的正式报告，可充分查阅机密文件。然而，在其两年任期内（2012-2014年），全国过渡委员会受到各种利益集团的批评，委员们之间的内部冲突严重损害了其工作。该项目的主要目标是评价全国过渡委员会的历史意义和社会政治职能。为此，该项目追求两个具体的中期目标：（1）提供对《最后报告》的深入分析，（2）调查并解释主要利益集团对《最后报告》不同的短期和中期接受程度。这两个步骤对于回答仍然未知的问题是必要的：NTC的主要目的是什么，对象是什么，以及它的总体社会政治功能是什么？最后，全国过渡委员会在人们看来和事实上是否对巴西社会具有历史意义，如果是，具体在哪些领域（例如受害国与国家的关系、国际声誉、警察和司法系统内部的变化等）？为了回答这些问题，该项目将采用以下方法：（1）对报告提交仪式进行深入的媒体分析，并对包括政府、真相委员会官方网页和人权团体在内的主要利益集团进行持续的媒体分析和网站监测，（2）对全国过渡委员会的最后报告进行深入的文本分析（内容、叙述、语气、主要收信人、行话），（3）与已经确定的主要参与者进行访谈，包括国家真相委员会、地方真相委员会和幸存者的成员。该项目的预期成果是对《最后报告》进行一项以经验为基础的综合研究，对报告的接受情况，以及对全国过渡委员会在巴西研究不足、旷日持久的独裁清算历史中的社会政治相关性和功能进行一次全面评价。该项目的理论贡献是测试真相委员会的其他评价标准，包括委员会的公众接受度和《最后报告》对知识的贡献。

This research project focuses on the Final Report of the Brazilian National Truth Commission (hereafter NTC) published in December 2014. Brazil has long silenced its military past contrary to the global trend to human rights accountability. The NTC's Final Report will be the first comprehensive official report about the systematic human rights violations committed by State agents during the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985) with full access to classified documents. During its two year mandate (2012-2014), the NTC has, however, been criticized from various interest groups, and its work was severely compromised by internal conflicts among the commissioners. The project's main objective is to evaluate the historical relevance and socio-political function of the NTC. To that end, the project pursues two specific intermediate goals: to (1) provide an in depth analysis of the Final Report, and (2) investigate and explain its varying short and medium term reception among key interest groups. These two steps are necessary to answer what still remains unknown: What were the NTC's prime purpose, addressees, and its overall sociopolitical function? Ultimately, was the NTC of both perceived and de facto historical relevance for the Brazilian society, and if so, for which areas specifically (e.g. victim-state relations, international reputation, changes within the police and justice system, etc.)? To answer these questions the project will employ the following methods: (1) in depth media analysis of the ceremony of presentation of the Report and continuous media analysis and websites monitoring of key interest groups including the government, the Truth Commission's official webpage, and human rights groups, (2) in depth text analysis of the NTC's Final Report (content, narrative, tone, prime addressee, jargon), (3) conduct interviews with already identified key protagonists including members of the National Truth Commission, the local truth committees, and survivors. The expected outcome of the project is an empirically based, comprehensive study of the Final Report, its reception, and an overall evaluation of the NTC's socio-political relevance and function in Brazil's underresearched, protracted reckoning history with the dictatorship. The project's theoretical contribution is to test alternative evaluation criteria for truth commissions including the commission's public acceptance and the Final Report's contribution to knowledge.