State Power, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Post-Genocide Rwanda: An Ethnographic Analysis of the Grassroots Gacaca Courts

Abstract

This paper analyzes the inner workings of the grassroots gacaca tribunals that were set up to try genocide crimes in Rwanda. My analysis draws on “thick descriptions” of the judicial process from the point of view of the actors deeply embedded in it. From this “inside out” perspective, the paper assesses forms of state control and local struggles for power and influence in the context of which there are various kinds of evasions and maneuverings by social actors. It is within this analytic framework that the paper examines the scope of the independence and impartiality of judges and the extent to which the gacaca process can approximate a fair trial. The bulk of data for this paper are drawn from interviews, trial notes and ethnographic immersion in the life of a community in Kavumu sector of Masaka district in southwest Rwanda. To ensure anonymity, place names have been changed and actors are identified by their roles rather than names. This paper was presented at the American Political Science Association annual meeting 2006.