In-Between War and Peace: Identities, Boundaries and Change after Violent Conflict

Abstract

The construction of enemies in discourse and language has been subject of a number of post-positivist studies in International Relations in recent years. This article seeks to move the debate one step further by asking how conflicts are unmade discursively. To this end it draws on the notion of hermeneutics to conceptualise the processes of post-conflict transition. Hermeneutics translates `interpretation' or `understanding' and, in the tradition of the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer, depicts how identities are constituted in a circular process between past, present and future as well as the experience of otherness. Its focus on memory and remembering enables us to understand how societies change in the encounter with another, such as an adversary. Moreover, as central to the debates about hermeneutics, it alerts us to potential risks of postconflict transitions such as introducing a sense of closure which might provoke new conflicts. Based on these ideas, the article concludes with more practical research questions for assessing the transition from conflict to peace.