Transnational social movement as a governance babushka

Since the 1980s a top-down, lateral and bottom-up movement for truth, justice and/or reconciliation (MfTJ&R) has developed its own strong momentum, pushed forward by politicians,  transnational institutions and accords, foundations, TNGOS and civic societies. This movement has developed its own aspirations, concerns, sensibilities and vocabulary as well as own requirements, spelling out appropriate conduct, gestures and emotions. Among its most vocal academic proponents are historians, philosophers, public intellectuals and lawyers. In some countries victims of the past atrocities push for and even benefit from this movement. But there is also much contrary evidence. Among clear beneficiaries of this movement are millions of "Western" and west-educated volunteers recruited from the ranks of historians, legal and forensic experts, psychologists, trauma specialists, foundation employees, etc. who (help) set up, run or assist archives, courts, tribunals, commemoration ceremonies and re-concilliation rituals. To study the MfTJ&R requires other instruments than those provided by regular social movement research, even more so, since from a bird’s eye perspective, this movement is securely nested in the UN, US and EU transnational politics. Focusing on the EU it can be shown that the EU, which after 1995 both developed new security concerns and began to aspire to a role of a key international player as a ‘normative power EU’,  gave a major impetus to the MfTJ&R in its Southern and far Eastern 'buffer zones'. Whether in Marocco or Rwanda, the outcomes are rather disturbing.