Reconciliation has become an important part of postconflict peacebuild-ing rhetoric and practice in recent years. As nearly all conflicts today are intrastate, former enemies, perpetrators and victims, must continue living side by side after the war. Yet, attitudes and behaviors do not change at the moment of a declaration of peace. Since coexistence is necessary, the need for reconciliation is profound.
The aim of this chapter is to give a shared point of departure for discussion on the critical issues of reconciliation and development after war. Reconciliation is defined and seen from a pragmatic and societal perspective. Reconciliation involves finding a way to balance issues such as truth and justice so that the slow changing of behaviors, attitudes and emotions between former enemies can take place. It is the pragmatic work of building relationships and confidence that will hold for the pressures on peace.
In order to structure the analysis, reconciliation is suggested to be examined from three societal levels: top-level, middle-range, and grassroots. An overview is provided of some key concerns regarding reconciliation in relation to justice, security, and politics respectively, and their respective policy implications discussed. Security risks have not previously been included in the theoretical literature on truth telling and reconciliation. However, recent research indicates that if security is not provided, the process of reconciliation may risk to backlash in increased violence or in suppression of truth. Political initiatives for reconciliation through for example legislation are crucial. However, the post-conflict state is often quite weak thus tensions may easily arise between reconciliation needs, development ambitions, and politics. Finally, truth telling being one of the major components in reconciliation processes around the world today, the concerns of truth telling with regard to trauma, reparation, and culture are briefly highlighted.
The chapter concludes that there is no magic formula for reconciliation; each reconciliation process needs to be designed according to the specific context. However, we urgently need empirical research to learn of general trends regarding the promises and pitfalls for processes of reconciliation.
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Brounéus, K. (2009). Reconciliation and Development. In: Ambos, K., Large, J., Wierda, M. (eds) Building a Future on Peace and Justice. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85754-9_8
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