This paper draws on one year of qualitative fieldwork in Cote d'Ivoire, in the context of a transitional justice process following post-election violence in 2010/11. In particular it focuses on a set of civil society actors who frame an explicit 'resistance' to transitional justice in terms of a 'fight for democracy' and understand themselves as a popular movement of 'true citizens'. In doing so they unsettle the link between transitional justice and a political transition towards democracy, prompting scholars and practitioners to ask challenging questions about the intersection between transitional justice and less democratic forms of decision-making. An analysis of this specific case is used to reflect on these meta-issues of what kind of political and social contract underpins transitional justice processes and what this means for their legitimacy.
