"Remaking Rwanda": essential contribution to the study of transitional justice and post-conflict recovery May 9, 2011 by Alana Tiemessen Leave a Comment "Remaking Rwanda: State Building and Human Rights After Mass Violence," an edited volume by Scott Straus and Lars Waldorf, has recently been published by the University of Wisconsin Press. The book is dedicated to the memory of Alison des Forges, the former senior advisor to Human Rights Watch's Africa Division and renowned Rwanda expert. The editors set out to accomplish three objectives: fill the gap on scholarly literature on post-genocide Rwanda challenge the prevailing positive reviews of Rwanda's recovery (emanating primarily from donors and media) highlight Rwanda's importance for post-conflict recovery (in the theoretical framework of James Scott's "Seeking Like a State.") In their introductory chapter, the editors state that "in challenging what has been the prevailing view of post-genocide Rwanda and complicating existing theories of post-conflict reconstruction, this volume intends to contribute – in whatever way outsiders can – to a robust social and political system that will avoid the terrible violence of Rwanda's past." The volume includes contributions from notable veteran and new scholars whose research on Rwanda is nuanced, provocative, and above reproach. Not surprisingly, the book and its authors have come under attack by proxy spokespersons of the Government of Rwanda. But the hyperbolic response of the RPF regime merely underscores the credibility of the authors' claims. Namely, the claims that that the RPF has used the created a veneer with the internationally lauded benchmarks of democracy, macro economic progress, and rule of law to entrench and centralize its power through "deft authoritarianism" – and thus paradoxically suppressing dissent, deepening inequality, and furthering a culture of impunity. Some have challenged that "only Rwandans can remake Rwanda." No one denies that Rwandans, from elites to peasants, should have agency in their country's political discourse. But as Straus remarks to the Chronicle of Higher Ed, "it is left to outsiders to make critical comments if the domestic political space is largely closed." There are several chapters in the volume that address transitional justice and reconciliation issues – ranging from crimes committed in the Congo, Gacaca, ICTR, memorials, ingando, and the laws on "genocide ideology." I'll provide a thorough review of these chapters in a future post, but for now here are the authors and titles: Lars Waldorf. "Instrumentalizing Genocide: The RPF's Campaign against 'Genocide Ideology." Jason Stearns and Federico Borello. "Bad Karma: Accountability for Rwandan Crimes in the Congo." Victor Peskin. "Victor's Justice Revisited: Rwandan Patriotic Front Crimes and the Prosecutorial Endgame at the ICTR." Don Webster. "The Uneasy Relationship between the ICTR and Gacaca." Max Rettig. "The Sovu Trials: The Impact of Genocide Justice on One Community." Carina Tertsakian. "'All Rwandans Are Afraid of Being Arrested One Day': Prisoners Past, Present, and Future." Jens Meierhenrich. "Topographies of Remembering and Forgetting: The Transformation of Lieux de Memoire in Rwanda." Susan Thomson. "Reeducation for Reconciliation: Participant Observations on Ingando." (http://globaltj.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/remaking-rwanda-essential-contribution-to-the-study-of-transitional-justice-and-post-conflict-recovery/) __._,_.___