Peacebuilding In Post-conflict Societies Research Articles

Addressing trauma, and promoting healing and peacebuilding in post-conflict societies.

Addressing trauma, and promoting healing and peacebuilding in post-conflict societies.

Intergenerational transmission of trauma and its association with attitudes toward reconciliation.

We aimed to investigate the link between mothers' posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and their adult offspring's attitudes toward reconciliation and psychopathology among survivors of the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda. We also sought to examine whether parenting styles mediate the relationship between mothers' PTSD symptoms and their adult offspring's psychopathology, if any. Mother-child dyads (N = 181) were recruited in Rwanda and completed measures of trauma exposure, PTSD, depression, attitudes toward reconciliation, and parenting styles. Adult offspring of mothers who suffered from more severe PTSD symptoms had less favorable attitudes toward reconciliation, even after controlling for their own PTSD symptoms. Mothers' PTSD symptoms were not associated with their adult offspring's PTSD or depression symptoms. In addition, mothers' PTSD symptoms did not predict their parenting styles. These results suggest that the mental health of survivors of mass violence has repercussions on the intergroup attitudes of the following generation. This study has practical implications for sustainable peacebuilding in postconflict societies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Crisis complicates peacebuilding in postconflict societies: COVID-19 support triggers negative outgroup emotions among individuals with low and high prejudice.

Crisis complicates peacebuilding in postconflict societies: COVID-19 support triggers negative outgroup emotions among individuals with low and high prejudice.

How does ingroup identification predict forgiveness in post-conflict societies? The role of conflict narratives.

People's religious identity is often the central identity in many ethnopolitical conflicts. These identities in conflict contexts may be associated with how people see conflict and their willingness to forgive the outgroup members for their wrongdoings in the past. Study 1 (N=287) tested how religious group identification in the Northern Irish context predicted forgiveness through the endorsement of dominant conflict narratives (i.e., terrorism and independence narratives) among Protestants and Catholics. We also tested how group membership may moderate these relationships. The results showed that among Protestants, higher Protestant identification predicted less forgiveness through higher endorsement of the terrorism narrative and less endorsement of the independence narrative. Among Catholics, on the other hand, higher Catholic identification predicted stronger endorsement of the independence narrative, and in turn, less forgiveness. Study 2 (N=526) aimed to replicate the findings of Study 1 with a larger sample and extend them by testing the role of an alternative conflict narrative (i.e., the Northern Irish identity narrative). The results were largely replicated for the independence and terrorism narratives, and the Northern Irish identity narrative was associated with higher forgiveness across both groups. We discuss the results in terms of how ingroup identities and conflict narratives can become both facilitators of and barriers to peacebuilding in post-conflict societies.

Supplemental Material for Crisis Complicates Peacebuilding in Postconflict Societies: COVID-19 Support Triggers Negative Outgroup Emotions Among Individuals With Low and High Prejudice

Supplemental Material for Crisis Complicates Peacebuilding in Postconflict Societies: COVID-19 Support Triggers Negative Outgroup Emotions Among Individuals With Low and High Prejudice

‘The ‘local-visual turn’: understanding peacebuilding in post-conflict societies using photo-elicitation

ABSTRACT The ‘local turn’ and ‘visual turn’ are increasingly crucial in peacebuilding processes in post-conflict societies. This research combines these concepts, offering a deeper understanding of communities experiencing ongoing peace processes and the environments where these processes take place. It uses the ‘local-visual turn’ with a photo-elicitation methodology to understand the relationship between the material world, social realities, and local peacebuilding processes. Specifically, in Northern Ireland, a post-conflict state experiencing ongoing tensions exacerbated by Brexit. Photo-elicitation interviews were carried out across local communities in Northern Ireland. The findings point to four key themes: local understandings of peace processes in Northern Ireland at the onset of Brexit; youth, peace, and the future of Northern Ireland; religion, churches and the peace processes; and paramilitarism and the peace processes. The results demonstrate that peace processes can be more comprehensively understood by rooting research methodologies in local experiences and physical landscapes.

Building sustainable peace through environmental cooperation in the island of Ireland: modelling transboundary conservation

ABSTRACT As Brexit becomes reality, concerns are growing over environmental degradation due to differences in environmental policies on both sides of the border. At the same time, post-conflict peace occupied by neoliberal ideas remains fragile. However, there is no research that explores the nexus between environmental cooperation and peacebuilding in the Irish context. To narrow this loophole, first, this essay engages with the theory of environmental peacebuilding and sheds light on the role of environmental cooperation as an instrument for peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. Then, it proposes three models for environmental peacebuilding that likely fit in the Irish context. While not singling out one most feasible model, the paper concludes that the island of Ireland already has institutional arrangements and resources to implement any of the proposed models. Building a sustainable peace requires an approach to not only facilitate good relationships between divided human communities, but also resolve the human-nature conflict.

The politics of youth justice reform in post-conflict societies: mainstreaming restorative justice in Northern Ireland and South Africa

Criminal justice reform plays a pivotal role in helping to foster reconciliation and peace-building in postconflict societies. In the wake of their respective political transitions, both Northern Ireland and South Africa have formulated proposals for reform of their youth justice systems based upon restorative principles. This article analyses the attempts to roll out these reforms in both jurisdictions. It considers why new youth justice arrangements have largely been well received in Northern Ireland, yet have struggled to be implemented successfully in South Africa and reflects on possible lessons to be learnt in the context of postconflict transformations.

Sport and peacebuilding in post-conflict societies: the role of Open Fun Football Schools in Kosovo

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in the research literature on how sport can be used more productively as a peacebuilding device in post-conflict countries.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses interviewing method that includes both semi-structured and unstructured interviews with trainers, instructors and children involved in implementing Open Fun Football Schools (OFFSs) in Kosovo.FindingsFindings show that OFFSs have played a vital role in peacebuilding in Kosovo by bringing together people from different ethnic backgrounds in Kosovo, which contributed to social inclusion of Albanians and Serbs, and other communities by changing their initial attitudes toward one another.Research limitations/implicationsThe main research limitation is the usage of semi-structured and unstructured questionnaires instead of structured questionnaires, which would provide more generalized conclusions about the OFFSs. More research is needed on this topic to investigate the effect of similar programs in other country contexts.Practical implicationsThe most important practical implication of the research is that conflict mitigation through football sports programs and activities can be used in other similar contexts by donors and the international community. OFFSs offer a hope for peacebuilding, and if adequately implemented can contribute to peacebuilding in post-conflict societies similar to Kosovo’s context. The positive attitude changes as a result of participation in the OFFS programs shows that these joint programs can promote better ethnic relations. There is a need for the expansion of such programs to reach more people.Originality/valueThe study provides an original contribution as there has been almost no prior research which actually measured the effects of OFFSs on change of youth attitudes through the integrated sport programs with different ethnicity in Kosovo.

Religious Differences in Electoral Turnout among Women in Northern Ireland

It is now commonly accepted that democratic elections with increased female participation and representation is an essential element of peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. Yet, women are not a monolithic group and their needs are not homogeneous. This is especially the case in post-conflict societies marked by long-standing ethno-national antagonisms, where issues surrounding female unity and women’s political participation are often considered secondary to resolving the national identity question. Using data from the 2015 Northern Ireland Election Survey, this article examines female differences in electoral turnout between the two main religious groupings—Protestant and Catholic—in Northern Ireland. The results suggest the existence of a significant religious gap in electoral turnout among women, with Catholic women been significantly more likely to vote than Protestant women. A key factor in accounting for this phenomenon is differences in political engagement and levels of trust in political leaders.

Reconciliation and the Rule of Law: The Changing Role of International War Crimes Tribunals

This thesis explores the relationship between international war crimes tribunals and peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. The aim of the present study was to examine how the role and function of international tribunals has changed since the establishment of the Nuremberg tribunal in the early years after World War II. Due to the evolving nature of international law and the international criminal legal system, international tribunals have become increasingly recognized as an integral component of peacebuilding processes in the aftermath of conflict. As the first international tribunal mandated to restore international peace and security, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) set a new precedent for international tribunals. Beginning with its establishment, there appeared to be a new trend of using international judicial mechanisms to promote peace and reconciliation in the aftermath of conflict. One important element of change was the increased tendency of international tribunals to engage in public outreach and help build the capacity of national justice sector institutions. As the first international tribunal to succeed the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals and the first UN tribunal of its kind, the ICTY has shown the extent to which international tribunals facilitate societal reconciliation is, and will be, understood within the context of the legacies they leave behind. Institutions such as the ICTY will not be judged solely on the merits of the ideals on which they were established, but instead on their concrete successes in the domestic arena and their ability to fortify domestic judicial capacity.

Making peace, making memory: peacebuilding and politics of remembrance at memorials of mass atrocities

Peacebuilding in post-conflict societies increasingly encompasses memorialisation and practices of remembrance. Memorials that commemorate incidents of mass atrocity have been claimed as spaces for intervention by outside actors, and international support has often been decisive for their creation. While external involvement is driven by a desire for solid statements about the violent past, it is increasingly recognised that memorials are on the contrary sites for the ongoing production of meaning in the present; sites used both for mourning and for making politics. This article interrogates the productive encounter between external actors' globalised template for remembering and desire, and local processes of remembrance. The argument is illustrated by cases studies of the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Rwanda.

A Human Security Peace-Building Agenda

International peace building in post-conflict societies has helped to bring armed conflicts to an end and reduced the recurrence of war. According to some scholars, peace building has therefore contributed to the apparent downward trend of major intra-state conflict in recent years. However, the liberal institutionalist values which underpin international peace building—emphasising democracy, free market economics and the liberal state—have raised a range of criticisms and challenges from scholars as well as local stakeholders in the societies in which peace-building programmes are deployed. In particular, the prevailing approaches to peace-building give insufficient attention to basic and everyday human needs, and promote externally conceived models of state institutions which are not always appropriate. This article explores the problems of contemporary peace building and argues that an alternative vision which draws upon the concept of human security and gives greater emphasis to welfare, livelihoods and local engagement can make peace building more legitimate and sustainable.

State reconstruction in Africa: the relevance of Claude Ake's political thought

Studies on post-conflict reconstruction in Africa have glossed over the need for state transformation as a prerequisite for sustainable peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. This article fills this gap and discusses the relevance of Claude Ake's political thought for state reconstruction in post-conflict Africa. It underscores the need for the autochthonous transformation of the state as a central component of peacebuilding and post-conflict transition in the continent as Ake had suggested. Drawing on Sierra Leone, it theorizes Ake's works on the state in Africa against the backdrop of externally driven state reconstruction projects hinged on hegemonic discourses of ‘nation-building’ in post-conflict situations. It presents Ake's corpus as a basis for critiquing ongoing state rehabilitation attempts and urges a return to endogenous initiatives of rebuilding the state from below as a condition for achieving a sustainable democratic reconstruction of the state in post-conflict Africa.

Civil war in African states: the search for security

How do disputants in Africa's civil wars--rebel movements, ethnic groups, state leaders--find security in the midst of anarchic situations? Why do some rebel movements pursue a secessionist agenda while others seek to overthrow the existing government? Under what circumstances will insurgents agree to share power? Proposing answers to these questions, Ian Spears offers a fresh perspective on the possibilities for ending violent political conflict in Africa. Spears focuses on the security predicaments of the disputants themselves as he closely examines the roots and dynamics of civil wars in Angola, Ethiopia, and Somalia. His original analysis leads to conclusions that challenge prevailing assumptions about the nature both of conflict resolution and of peacebuilding in postconflict societies.

The Impact of International Tribunals and Domestic Trials on Peace and Human Rights After Civil War

We analyze whether international criminal tribunals and domestic human rights trials can play an important role in peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. Advocates and scholars argue that by providing justice and truth, helping to remove war criminals and peace spoilers from their societies, and by contributing to deterrence, these institutions contribute to improvements in human rights and the maintenance of peace. Other scholars assert that few such beneficial effects have occurred. We test the impact of international tribunals and domestic trials on the recurrence of civil war and human rights improvements in states that have emerged from civil war since 1982. The evidence regarding their beneficial impacts is fairly clear, however, and suggests that while domestic human rights trials and international tribunals do not exercise any negative effects, they do not appear to contribute to reducing the recurrence of civil war or improvements in human rights practices.

Peacebuilding: A Time to Listen to and Learn from ReconciliationismTristan Anne Borer, ed. Telling the Truths: Truth Telling and Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006.Charles T. Call, ed. Constructing Justice and Security after War. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007.Chester A. Crocker, Fen Olser Hampson, and Pamela Aall, eds.

Peacebuilding: A Time to Listen to and Learn from ReconciliationismTristan Anne Borer, ed. <i>Telling the Truths: Truth Telling and Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies</i>. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006.Charles T. Call, ed. <i>Constructing Justice and Security after War</i>. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007.Chester A. Crocker, Fen Olser Hampson, and Pamela Aall, eds.

Telling the Truths: Truth Telling and Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies by Tristan Anne Borer

Telling the Truths: Truth Telling and Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies <i>by Tristan Anne Borer</i>

Telling the truths: truth telling and peace building in post-conflict societies

This important collection examines the contributions of truth-telling mechanisms, such as truth commissions, to long-term sustainable peace. The question of whether and how truth brings peace is under examined in scholarly literature on conflict resolution, conflict transformation, and transitional justice. This book argues that to ensure a future that does not reiterate the past, the atrocities of war and conflict must be brought to light and addressed. Contributors to this interdisciplinary volume from the fields of political science, law, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and theology closely examine the conditions under which various forms of truth telling in post-conflict societies contribute to a sustainable peace. This volume is the first to highlight the intersection of peace building and transitional justice and will be an invaluable resource.

Book Note: Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Societies: Strategy &amp; Process

Book Note: Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Societies: Strategy &amp; Process