Engineering Grassroots Transitional Justice in the Balkans: The Case of Kosovo
Engineering Grassroots Transitional Justice in the Balkans: The Case of Kosovo

Summary/Abstract: The initiative to establish a truth commission in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia (RECOM) presents a rich case study of the performance of the “toolkit” that transitional justice professionals propose on a global scale: an inclusive package that offers truth, justice, reconciliation and stability. Whether these goals could be achieved is the subject of a critical debate that questions overly ambitious projects of truth commissions, especially their sensitivity to local understandings and practices of transitional justice. We aim to contribute to this debate by examining the reception of RECOM in Kosovo, where most local actors remain either noncommittal or outright opposed to RECOM. What these actors share is the conviction that their own narratives be taken seriously, even when this means refusing the suppression of “truths” that can be divisive. We found that giving priority to “the local” implies more than adapting the received professional “toolkit”: it might require abandoning it.

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