Transitional (In)Justice: How French Cambodian Communities Claim Political Space from Below

Abstract

This article evaluates transitional justice and remembrance in relation to the Cambodian genocide by using the concept of political space to capture the act of political participation by the Cambodian government and the French Cambodian community, as well as the physical and discursive space in which this participation occurs beyond formal institutional politics. Using an actor-focused approach, it highlights how actors experience and practice the meaning and relevance of transitional justice. This article argues that while formal transitional justice mechanisms such as the ECCC have contributed to legal accountability, they risk institutional monopolisation of the use of transitional justice and remembrance, which limits the political space of individuals rooted in Cambodian communities. Moreover, this monopolisation may limit the ideas in this discursive space to standardised, often Western-centric notions of transitional justice and ideas that serve the interests of the Cambodian government. Nevertheless, institutions do not hold arbitrary power over political space, and French Cambodian communities continue to claim and expand political space through bottom-up practices rooted in community and cultural dynamics. Using such initiatives, including FRAGMENTS #KH50 and the work of Rithy Panh and Vann Nath, this article explores how survivors engage with institutional transitional justice frameworks and challenge this institutional monopoly and how, in doing so, they claim and expand political space. French Cambodian communities challenge the distinction between victim and perpetrator, extend responsibility beyond high cadres, and conduct remembrance through cultural and everyday practices.