Navigating Non-Transition

Grassroots Victim–Survivor Mobilization and the Pursuit of Transitional Justice in Turkey and Morocco

Bibliographic Data

ID7315573
AuthorsNisan Alıcı (0000-0001-9308-0529, University of Derby), Pia Falschebner (0000-0002-4657-1007, Center for Conflict Studies, Marburg University , Marburg)
Year2025
Volume17
Issue3
Publication date2025-07-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Human Rights Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1757-9619 • E-ISSN: 1757-9627
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/jhuman/huaf012
OpenAlexW4412178224
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited63

This article explores the specific implications of aparadigmatic transitional justice contexts for victim-survivor mobilization by bringing together two under-researched cases: Morocco and Turkey. In both countries, victim-survivor groups have emerged as active political actors amid violence and limited or non-existing transitional justice processes. Examining these cases reveals that structural conditions and dynamics in non-transitional settings profoundly impact victim-survivors’ activism, shaping their transitional justice agendas and strategies. It also demonstrates that even in contexts characterized by impunity and limited political change, victim-survivor groups persistently advocate for justice, truth, and non-recurrence, linking their struggle to broader goals like democracy and peace, and innovating and adapting their strategies to navigate a challenging terrain. Drawing on field research with activists involved in the Coordination Committee of the Families of the Disappeared and of Victims of Enforced Disappearance in Morocco, and the Saturday Mothers/People in Turkey, this article provides insights into the complexities of transitional justice in aparadigmatic contexts, emphasizing the pivotal role of grassroots actors in advancing transitional justice, even under adverse conditions. It emphasizes the need to shift the focus away from the state as the primary subject of analysis and instead centre on victim-survivors as strategic political agents. Victim-survivors’ agency, needs, and aspirations should be prioritized to facilitate fundamental change, including community-driven transitional justice efforts

Criminology · Development economics · Economic Justice · Economics · Grassroots · Mobilization · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Transition (genetics · Transitional justice · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Political Conflict and Governance · Turkey's Politics and Society · Law