The Categories of Perpetrator and Victim in Transitional Justice: An Analysis of the Argentinian Dictatorship as a ‘Restless Event’

International human rights law constructs the perpetrator-victim binary as a legal formulation of a relationship created by acts of violence. During transition, victims demand justice for the mass crimes committed by perpetrators against them. Yet, as the case of Argentina demonstrates, this binary is not a stable endpoint but a site of perpetual political contestation. This article argues that the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983) operates as a ‘restless event’, where the categories of perpetrator and victim are continuously renegotiated. Through a historical analysis of over 35 years of transitional justice policy—from Alfonsín’s ‘two demons’ thesis and Menem’s amnesty, to the Kirchners’ genocide frame and Milei’s recent revisionism—we demonstrate that legal rituals like trials have failed to generate a consensus on the past and produce a settled narrative. Instead, they have fuelled a cyclical struggle where victims and perpetrators remain locked in a symbiotic conflict over memory and blame. The article concludes that the ‘restless event’ framework reveals the inherent instability of transitional justice's foundational categories, showing that in deeply divided societies, the past is not a closed chapter but an ongoing political frontier.