How does transitional justice affect the extent to which a legacy of human rights abuse is politically divisive? Reconciliation is frequently listed as something that transitional justice can achieve, but the past can also become the domain of politicians who capitalize on it. I address this debate by examining how transitional justice targeting the legacy of communist-era secret services in the Czech and Slovak Republics has affected contestation over the past in those countries. The paper relies on a quantitative analysis of newspaper coverage (1990-2013) and on a qualitative study of more than 70 elite interviews. The findings suggest that transitional justice produce greater contestation over the communist past. To explain these findings, the analysis emphasizes the role that policy entrepreneurs – individuals who dedicate their political careers to achieving certain policy goals, rather than being motivated by partisan success or political posts – play in driving the transitional agenda.
