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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The darker side of transitional justice: the power dynamics behind Rwanda's 'gacaca' courts
Author:Thomson, SusanISNI
Year:2011
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute (ISSN 0001-9720)
Volume:81
Issue:3
Pages:373-390
Language:English
Geographic term:Rwanda
Subjects:gacaca
transitional justice
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/41484994
Abstract:In this article, the author argues that the praise of legal and political analysts who perceive Rwanda's gacaca courts as a model of locally grounded and culturally relevant transitional justice is unfounded without consideration of the broader power dynamics in which justice is delivered. Drawing on life history interviews with 37 Rwandan peasants resident in the south-west of the country, the author argues that the claims of the Rwandan government that its gacaca courts are promoting peace and reconciliation must also assess the impact of local justice mechanisms on those subject to its demands, namely ordinary people. In the case of Rwanda's gacaca courts, local-level analysis illuminates a darker and largely unexamined aspect of transitional justice - the playing out of local power dynamics and the social and political inequalities masked by the pursuit of justice and reconciliation. The study cautions against a wholesale endorsement of the gacaca courts as an effective and legitimate form of transitional justice. Instead, it is a mechanism of State power that works to reinforce the political power of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and to ply international audiences with the idea that Rwanda is 'a nation rehabilitated' from 'the scourge of genocide'. Bibliogr., notes, sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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