Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences (review)

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) has put together a useful book on the role of local justice mechanisms on reconciliation processes in Africa. Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict is an important addition to the literature on transitional justice. Each of the substantive chapters analyzes the role of traditional justice mechanisms in dealing with the legacy of mass political violence in five African countries. Four of the chapters (on Burundi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Uganda) were written by African authors who provide a nuanced examination of local traditional justice mechanisms. This insider information has been sorely lacking in the academic and policy literatures. The chapter on Rwanda were written by a Belgian scholar (apparently because the Rwandan contributors pulled out). The editors, Luc Huyse and Mark Salter, wrote the introduction and conclusion, respectively.

This book deserves to be read by academics, practitioners, policymakers, graduate students, and journalists, although academics will be disappointed by the lack of theoretical insight in the introduction and conclusion. Indeed, Huyse's superficial treatment of the state of the field (as of 2008) is exceedingly weak. Anyone familiar with the rapidly growing and conceptually contested texts at the core of the literature on transitional justice will recognize that the discussion of the main debates (justice versus impunity) was written for the uninitiated. Neither Huyse nor Salter addresses the conceptual boundaries of what they mean by reconciliation, and the volume would have benefited from a working definition; nor do they consider what acts or words constitute an instance of reconciliation between survivors and perpetrators. Salter does not draw on the analytical framework set out in Huyse's introduction; instead, he summarizes the substantive chapters to provide a shopping list of recommendations clearly intended for practitioners.

But readers are cautioned not to avoid picking up the volume on the basis of this criticism. Indeed, the volume is in line with IDEA's mission statement: to provide general knowledge to practitioners and donors seeking to grant funding to governments that are trying to promote the rule of law and democracy after violent conflict. In addition, the individual chapters are among the few published pieces of research that bring in a local perspective on how traditional justice mechanisms are understood within the sociopolitical, religious, and cultural contexts in which they operate. For example, Joe A. D. Alie (on tradition-based practices of reconciliation of Sierre Leone's Kpaa Mende), Victor Igreja and Beatrice Dias-Lambranca (on reconciliation rituals in Mozambique), and James Ojera Latigo (on mato oput in Uganda) all examine the spiritual dimensions of conflict resolution and reconciliation in their respective chapters. Each one offers a new layer of knowledge to academics and practitioners alike as they examine the complex relationship between formal (Western) religions and local spirituality—an important topic for foreign actors researching or working in postconflict environments in Africa.

The chapters by Bert Ingelaere (on gacaca in Rwanda) and Assumpta Naniwe-Kaburahe (on bashingantahe in Burundi) both situate their analysis of traditional justice mechanisms in a broader historical context to highlight the "invented" tradition that modern practices such as gacaca and bashingantahe rely upon for legitimacy by local political elites. Taken together, they offer readers a regional understanding of traditional justice mechanisms in the troubled Great Lakes Region. This is particularly important because many analysts fail to appreciate the interconnectedness of the politics of history in contemporary political processes in the GLR. Naniwe-Kaburahe's chapter also highlights the need for foreign actors to consider both local gender dynamics and the chronic poverty of local people when implementing traditional justice programs.

In sum, this is a book that should be read by graduate students thinking about developing their own research on traditional justice processes in Africa so that they too can draw on bottom-up perspectives. Journalists new to Africa will benefit from...