This edited volume examines the role of local civil society in shaping understandings and processes of transitional justice in Africa – a nursery of transitional justice ideas for well over two decades. It brings together practitioners and scholars with intimate knowledge of these processes to evaluate the agendas and strategies of local civil society, and offers an opportunity to reflect on ‘lessons learnt’ along the way. The contributors focus on the evolution and effectiveness of transitional justice interventions, providing a glimpse into the motivations and inner workings of major civil society actors.
The book presents an African perspective on transitional justice through a compilation of country-specific and thematic analyses of agenda setting and lobbying efforts. It offers insights into state–civil society relations on the continent, which shape these agendas. The chapters present case studies from Southern, Central, East, West and North Africa, and a range of moments and types of transition. In addition to historical perspective, the chapters provide fresh and up-to- date analyses of ongoing transitional justice efforts that are key to defining the future of how the field is understood globally, in theory and in practice
Endorsements:
"This great volume of written work – Advocating Transitional Justice in Africa: The Role of Civil Society – does what virtually no other labor of the intellect has done heretofore. Authored by movement activists and thinkers in the fields of human rights and transitional justice, the volume wrestles with the complex place and roles of transitional justice in the project of societal reconstruction in Africa. … This volume will serve as a timely and thought-provoking guide for activists, thinkers, and policy makers – as well as students of transitional justice – interested in the tension between the universal and the particular in the arduous struggle for liberation. Often, civil society actors in Africa have been accused of consuming the ideas of others, but not producing enough, if any, of their own. This volume makes clear the spuriousness of this claim and firmly plants an African flag in the field of ideas."
Makau Mutua
Foreword. The Long Arc of Transitional Justice.- Editors
Preface.-Introduction. The Role of Civil Society in African Transitional
Justice: Comparing Theory and Practice.
Chapter
1. Locating Civil Society in
Kenyas Transitional Justice Agenda: A Reflection on the Experience of the
Kenya Transitional Justice Network.
Chapter
2. Transitional Justice in
Liberia: The Interface between Civil Society and the Liberian Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.
Chapter
3. Taking Transitional Justice to the
People: Challenges for Civil Society in Zimbabwe.
Chapter
4. Persistent
Injuries, the Law and Politics: The South African Victims Support Group
Khulumani and Its Struggle for Redress.
Chapter
5. Cooperation and Conflict:
Civil Society Resistance and Engagement with Transitional Justice in
Burundi.
Chapter
6. Madly Off in All Directions: Civil Society and the Use
of Customary Justice as Transitional Justice in Uganda.
Chapter
7. Civil
Society Engagement with Communities: Tradition, Authority and Transitional
Justice in Rural African Communities.
Chapter
8. Navigating the Storm: Civil
Society and Ambiguous Transitions in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.- Conclusion.
The Role of Civil Society in Shaping Transitional Justice in Africa.
Jasmina Brankovic is a Senior Researcher with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Transitional Justice. She conducts research on comparative transitional justice, civil society and victims groups, and the intersection of transitional justice and social transformation. Her publications include The Global Climate Regime and Transitional Justice (2018).
Hugo van der Merwe is Director of Research, Knowledge and Learning at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. Since joining CSVR in 1997, he has developed and managed numerous research advocacy and intervention projects relating to transitional justice, reconciliation and peacebuilding in South Africa and the African continent. Hugo is the Co-Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Transitional Justice (Oxford University Press). His publications include Assessing the Impact of Transitional Justice (2009), Truthand Reconciliation in South Africa: Did the TRC Deliver? (2008) and Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice (1993). Hugo received his doctorate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University (1999).
