“Reconciliation turns “current” peace into…
“stable” peace”
Reconciliation is both…
a process and a destination
Conflict Resolution…
- Is the first step towards lasting peace…
- Conflict has left a mark on the people
What do we mean by reconciliation?
“Reconciliation means restoring friendship and harmony between the rival sides after conflict resolution, or transforming relations of hostility and resentment to friendly and harmonious ones”
International Relations Perspective - Approaches to reconciliation:
○ Quickly foster security, economic, and political cooperation
○ This peace will spill over from ruling elites to all sectors of the population
○ Top-down approach
○ HOWEVER “….it has to happen in the hearts and minds of people”
Social Psychological Perspective - Approaches to reconciliation:
- Address cognitive and emotional aspects of reconciliation
Reconciliation Requires 5 Conditions:
– trust
– acknowledgement of wrongdoing
– apology
– mutual assurance that both groups are invested in reconciliation
– forgiveness
Intergroup Trust - Why is it important?
Most important condition for stable peace:
- Mutual trust assures that both sides are working towards peace
What is trust? (4)
- Positive bias in processing information
- Positive expectations of the others’ behaviour
- “Trusting” the outgroup represents a threat to the ingroup
- One’s vulnerability will not be exploited by the other
Communal trust:
- each part is committed to the welfare of the other (interpersonal closeness)
Why is communal trust difficult to foster?
- In reconciliation – difficult to foster:
○ ill-will is expected
○ drastic change to increased concern for welfare = suspicious
○ well-intended actions from the outgroup may be interpreted as manipulative
SUGGESTION for communal trust? (WORKING TRUST) - 5
- working trust: Trust does not mean good will or friendship between parties
- self-interest can indicate seriousness of working-relationship
- more convincing if your opponent is interested in the peace process, can benefit from it, and is part of their long-term vision
- Reconciliation requires (working) trust; (interpersonal) trust first requires reconciliation
- Working trust is FRAGILE!
3 things that reconciliation should work towards:
- Should openly address painful questions of past conflict - build a foundation for normal peace relations
- Both parties address their part in the conflict;
- acknowledgment that the conflict instilled fears in both sides
Being Heard (perspective taking):
- Perspective-taking is a powerful tool; plays a central role in reconciliation
- Perspective-giving
- Telling your own story leads to greater trust, favourable attitudes
Acknowledgement Facilitates Reconciliation:
The effectiveness of openly talking about past atrocities / having the acknowledged
What makes for an effective apology? (4) - How can this lead to worse?
- Expression of remorse and empathy
- Plea for forgiveness
- Acknowledgment of the injustice and suffering
- Compensation is offered
- High risk strategies that can worsen a bad situation
- Especially when power relations are seen as unstable…
Truth & Reconciliation Comissions:
- After conflict & genocide, groups yearn for acknowledgment of suffering
- Both victims and perpetrators come and detail their stories
- Victims gain closure and perpetrators seek forgiveness
- Tend to show success
- Truth acceptance correlates with reconciliatory attitudes
TRCs seem to work because…
– empathy leads to greater trust and reconciliation
– hearing that your group’s plight has been acknowledged leads to greater reconciliatory attitudes
Issues with TRCs:
TRC’s have been criticized for not providing sufficient support to victims and perpetrators
Why is trust so important for reconciling?
It allows individuals to accept risks
Why is it difficult to foster Intergroup Trust?
Most difficult condition to foster:
- Requires a deep, cognitive change – beliefs, ideology, and emotions
- Reconciliation requires trust; trust first requires reconciliation
