Image credit: Clay Banks

This project intended to address a global trend of political regression affecting transitional justice processes. Across multiple country contexts, this trend is marked by rising authoritarianism, shrinking civic space, political instability, and recurring human rights violations.

The project ended with the development of a compendium and a policy paper. The compendium examines four key typologies of political regression—unconstitutional grabs of power, eruptions of violence, counterrevolutions, and lack of political will to implement transitional justice commitments—across contexts in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, including South Africa, Peru, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Tunisia. In-depth case studies of Syria, Iraq, and Sri Lanka illustrate the impact of these typologies on transitional justice processes.

The policy paper and compendium aim to identify drivers of political backsliding, extract lessons learned from government and civil society-led initiatives, and offer strategies for practitioners and policymakers to strengthen and sustain transitional justice efforts. By doing so, ICSC and its partners seek to support civil society’s role in promoting truth, justice, accountability, and reconciliation in contexts facing political regression.