Using courts to build states: The competing spaces of citizenship in transitional justice programmes

Jeffrey, Alex; Jakala, Michaelina

doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2015.02.001

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…But I want to end on a more hopeful note that points to the potential opportunities than that promoted by a more individualised account of law. In recent work examining processes of transitional justice in South East Europe I have examined countless instances where transnational legal authorities provided sites for redress (see Jeffrey and Jakala, 2015). For example, for those seeking compensation or legal recognition as a victim of war crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina the ECtHR provides a key institution through to either achieve a legal outcome -lay claim to the resources or title to which they are due -or simply to providing a moral framework against which the behaviour of other (national or local courts) may be brought to account.…”

Section: Alex Jeffreymentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions on Europe's political futures

McConnell

Kuus

Jeffrey

et al. 2017

Political Geography

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At the best of times Europe is a vast and unwieldy topic. As was the case 25 years agoanother moment when a culmination of events warranted reflection on Europe's political futures-writing from the midst of geopolitical and geo-economic upheaval raises the challenge of how to gain perspective, to reflect on what is happening and to reassess how we approach issues. Yet as critical scholars it is imperative that we do so. In reflecting on the manifold challenges to the idea and space of Europe the interventions that follow are provocations: posing questions, unsettling taken for granted frameworks, and calling for new ways of thinking about and politically contributing to 'Europe'. Each author approaches Europe from a distinct perspective and offers a particular lens on contemporary European issues, bringing in ideas and framings from international relations, law, economic geography and migration studies. They also each draw on insights from their extensive empirical research in and on Europe. Cross-cutting the interventions are two calls to action: to rethink our analytical approaches to Europe, and to reframe our role as critical scholars. The interventions make the case for a renewed analytical toolbox through a focus on three themes that have long animated political geography scholarship on Europe: borders, power and crises. The spatial politics of Europe is a topic that has consistently featured in the pages of this journal. Underpinning much of this work has been an interest in Europe's borders: their post-Cold War realignment, the differentiation between 'permeable' internal and 'fortress' external borders of the EU (Scott and van Houtum 2009; Carr 2012) and the Union's relationship with its neighbours (Bialasiewicz et al 2009; Petrakos et al 2016). The interventions by Smith and Vaughan-Williams speak to this work on Europe's borders, and, in drawing on the work of Balibar and Derrida respectively, do so in ways that bring to the fore vital questions of inclusion and exclusion, openness to the Other and violent closures. Vaughan-Williams calls for attention to be turned to the emergence of bordering practices that are enacted under the guise of humanitarian action in order to render 'irregular' populations 'knowable' and thus 'governable'. Meanwhile Smith argues that paying attention to borders as an intermingling of the geopolitical and geo-economic is crucial to mapping out emerging political geographies of difference, (uneven) development and power(lessness) in Europe today. As illustrated by Smith's focus on inequality and marginalisation, the question of the nature of power in Europe runs through the interventions. Whilst much existing work has focused on the changing dynamics of EU 'soft' and 'civilian' power (Bachmann and Sidaway 2009;

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Section: Alex Jeffreymentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions on Europe's political futures

McConnell

Kuus

Jeffrey

et al. 2017

Political Geography

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“…In the past two decades, theoretical and practical emphasis has been placed on the idea of 'measurable' results, which are most commonly conceptualised through legal and judicial mechanisms such as justice and accountability (Jeffrey & Jakala, 2015;Subotić, 2011). Transitional justice has its foundation in legalism and places great emphasis on the idea of retributive justice, i.e.…”

Section: Peacebuilding and Transitional Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet it is through the enactment or rather engagement with these processes that apathy and silence become predictable and visible. Throughout the public dialogue process and outreach process, a silent and apathetic withdrawal from these processes, especially in the form of engagement with the justice process (Jeffrey & Jakala, 2015) or other governmental mechanisms of assistance, for example with survivors of wartime sexual violence, becomes evident (see Jones et al, 2013). We see this in the lack of engagement and almost concern with, for example, the momentary participation in a war crimes verdict which was commonly a passing moment of deep frustration and anger with the proceedings and linked to the misunderstandings and miscommunication of the process of outreach and education between the CBiH and the various affected communities in BiH.…”

Section: Public Dialogues On Wartime Sexual Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed it seemed to reflect a growing, though embittered, solidarity of participants at the stagnation of trials and judicial processes as the CBiH struggled under the sheer volume of cases on its books (Jeffrey & Jakala, 2015); I feel sorry to say that victims are fed up with all sorts of projects, all kinds of conclusions and reports and nothing has been completed by now. I am afraid that we will say that through these projects it is never late, even though it is.…”

Section: Practice Of Dissentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Communicating law, building peace: the pedagogy of public outreach from war crimes courts

Jakala

Jeffrey

2017

Space and Polity

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There has been a growing interdisciplinary concern with the implications of public outreach processes from war crimes trials for new forms of citizenship in the wake of violent conflict. The enactment of such outreach, through seminars, civil society initiatives and workshops, provides a glimpse of the tensions between different conceptions of justice, belonging and rights in the post-conflict period. Specifically, such events constitute a rare public arena in the more fragmented and securitised domain of international legal practices. This paper focuses on a series of public workshops for survivors of wartime sexual violence carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) 2011-13. Drawing on participant observations and open-ended interviews, we argue that such public outreach programmes can be viewed as a form of pedagogy, where the materials, format and arrangement of the events structure the nature of participation and engagement. In doing so we are making two contributions. First, the discussion advances understandings of public outreach as a form of pedagogy, illustrating how practices of dissent, rejection and resistance animate processes of public outreach. Second, the paper illuminates the role of pedagogy as a governmental instrument, reflecting the micro-situations within which individuals are interpellated into the state. ARTICLE HISTORY

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“…In doing so we draw on work on civil society by political geographers. Learning from Staeheli's (2010) discussions of the disorderly public, and studies which focus on the idea of actually existing civil society (see for example Mohan, 2002;Jeffrey and Jakala, 2015) we focus on the contexts of the civil society actors we have interviewed, and on how they link the differing scales of the local, national and geopolitical in what we would describe as their attempt to use disorder to expand the notion of the public in Côte d'Ivoire. This approach enriches discussions on transitional justice and civil society beyond the specific case of Côte d'Ivoire and allows us to turn the observed disconnect between policy and experience into an opportunity for learning more about competing visions of justice, peace and democracy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Jones

Djané

2018

Political Geography

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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.

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Using courts to build states: The competing spaces of citizenship in transitional justice programmes

Cited by 27 publications

References 58 publications

Interventions on Europe's political futures

Interventions on Europe's political futures

Communicating law, building peace: the pedagogy of public outreach from war crimes courts

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

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