Global South States and Transitional Justice: Beyond Politicization

ABSTRACT This article traces the role of Global South states in designing and implementing transitional justice. It draws on the cases of Sierra Leone and Colombia to highlight the positive contributions that states can make to transitional justice by driving, facilitating and/or protecting transitional justice measures. The current transitional justice literature predominantly views the Global South state’s engagement with transitional justice through the lens of politicization and distortion. The Global South states’ contributions to postconflict justice and accountability are thus rendered invisible or masked as political manoeuvring. This article argues against this otherization of the Global South state by highlighting that it can and does make positive contributions to transitional justice. It underscores that states in the Global South are complex actors, harbouring diverse interests, including interests of justice.