Postcolonial Participation in, and Support of, Transitional Justice Processes: Challenges and Prospects

This Paper argues that there is merit in engaging with the extent to which the experience of colonialism impacts on different actors’ participation in, and support for transitional justice processes in postcolonial contexts. The enduring colonial designs of politics, law and justice, are to a large extent, implicated in both these polities’ injustices and their failure to transition to a “just” socio-political legal system. Thus the paper intends to highlight some characteristics of postcolonial polities which show how colonialism transformed notions of politics, law and justice in these societies. It also examines the challenges which are presented by these features to state and non-state actors’ engagement with transitional justice processes in such contexts. Finally, the paper provides examples of recent postcolonial innovation to demonstrate opportunities for addressing the legacies of colonialism in postcolonial transitions.