Collective Agency in Reparation Politics: A Contentious Politics Perspective on Victim Mobilisation in Northern Ireland

This article contributes to a better understanding of the collective agency of survivor organisations in Transitional Justice (TJ) processes by studying their claims for reparations as contentious politics. Examining two different survivor groups in Northern Ireland, we argue that applying concepts from social movement theory to understand victim groups in TJ is valuable in four ways: Firstly, it facilitates an analytical assessment of how and why survivors organise, and allows to systematically unravel the factors impacting mobilisation. Secondly, approaching survivor groups as strategic political actors engaged in contentious politics shifts the focus back to their agency as drivers of TJ. Thirdly, it helps to understand survivor groups from within and reveals the diversity and complexity of survivors' identities, strategies and demands in transitional settings. Lastly, focusing on survivors' collective agency helps to move beyond a liberal human-rights based approach to victim organisations and to consider groups acting within different moral frameworks.