Reading the ‘uncivil’ in civil society resistance to transitional justice in Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP URL' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: wrap@warwick.ac.ukAs with many other contexts civil society in Côte d'Ivoire is not a space or set of actors and practices neatly distinct from the state. Political parties, politicians and party political agendas infuse civil society activism and ensure that being a civil society actor is a contested identity which can be leveraged for diverse and competing political projects. This paper is based on qualitative fieldwork with civil society actors who position themselves as 'resisting' the state-sanctioned transitional justice process following the 2010-2011 election violence and armed ousting of former President Laurent Gbagbo. Claiming and mobilizing their civil society identity such actors seek to create distance from what they claim is an illegitimate state and to lend credence to their project of resistance, read by some Ivoirian and non-Ivoirian commentators as mere political machinations by those who refuse to give up power and behave democratically. However, reading this 'uncivil' behavior is a complicated empirical and analytical task.In this article we explore the potential of analyzing such 'disorder' from the perspective of an expansion of the public in Côte d'Ivoire and how such a study of an actually existing civil society can challenge any notion of an easy instrumentalisation of civil society to serve the ends of transitional justice.

In the Shadow of Transitional Justice

“…Learning from resistance is but one way of opening dialogue. It can be difficult because of the perceived "incivility" of those who resist (Jones and Adou Djané 2018), or because of an expected clash of values. But dialogue does not have to be easy to ensure that we are attentive to ongoing efforts to learn from the past rather than seeking to close it down.…”

“…Former regime loyalists are known to want to block political progress, to delegitimize Ouattara's presidency and to avoid justice (Jones 2017). The forms of resistance I have described aboveprotests, violence, boycotts and public denouncementsare also simply understood to be acts of incivility associated with a "past" of disorder and violence (Jones and Adou Djané 2018). The underpinning narratives about resistance to transitional justice in Côte d'Ivoire are thus (a) that it is motivated by failure to accept the "right" outcome of the elections and of the justice process, and (b) that it is part of a deviant disorder of past violence that has no place in the present justiceseeking process, or in the imagined future of peace and democracy.…”