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Paper short abstract:

This study develops a conceptual framework of TRC engagement by empirically examining ex-combatant experiences in Sierra Leone. Conceptual clarity on TRC engagement enhances evaluations of agency, power and impact between those who affect, and those affected by, measures of transitional justice.

Paper long abstract:

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are celebrated for being a highly locally engaging model of transitional justice, though a clear conceptualization of the modalities of engagement therein remains absent. The significance of ownership and participation has seen increasing recognition in transitional and development scholarship. At its core, this expanding research enterprise addresses questions of agency, power and sustainability. This paper develops a conceptual framework of TRC engagement, through the empirical examination of ex-combatant experiences of participation in Sierra Leone's TRC. Through a qualitative investigation of the experiences of the necessary but neglected ex-combatant population, and drawing from primary interview data and secondary archival material, this paper advances a conceptual framework of TRC engagement, and offers a new avenue for assessing the relationship between those who affect transitional justice, and those affected by it. Conceptual clarity around institutional engagement in TRCs advances a new tool through which to analyse the enterprise of transitional justice, specifically in assessments of power relations between institutions and beneficiaries. Engagement is conceptualized to comprise the elements of ownership, inclusion and participation, and empirically examined through the lens of ex-combatant experiences in the context of Sierra Leone's TRC. Distinguishing between the various dimensions of engagement allows for the identification and isolation of where engagement happens, how it is (and can be) sought, and what it achieves.

This examination offers a new channel through which to analyse Sierra Leone's experiment in restorative and inclusive transitional justice, and the foundations of inclusivity upon which TRCs are built more broadly.