Reconciliation Policies Research Articles

Towards Prosperity and Peace: The Beginnings of the European Project in the West German Governmental PR Film Der erste Schritt

Films that advertised the rising status of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) as a partner in Western economic and military alliances were an integral item of the Adenauer administration’s PR arsenal. Produced through the state-funded newsreel system Deutsche Wochenschau under the direction of the Federal Press Office, these films provided an effective way to reach out to the electorate and explain and highlight the successes of democracy in a post-fascist country. PR films also emphasized the FRG’s role as an integral partner in the emerging European project. This article examines Der erste Schritt: Die Geschichte eines Briefes, a 1951 film advertising the Schuman Declaration as the necessary “first step” to overcome the socio-economic devastation of postwar Europe. The film reveals its producers’ agenda to manipulate the collective memory of the war-ridden Franco-German Erbfeindschaft and replace memories of animosities with images of pragmatic cooperation. Through a focus on the First World War as a tragic, but heroically fought confrontation between the nations, the film helps its audiences bridge the more recent and more conflicted Second World War past. The film’s narrative argues for a unified Europe by vividly describing its absence vis-à-vis the post-Second World War destruction in central Europe, and by drawing favourable comparisons with the large, unified economic territory of the United States. Compared to later PR films that accompanied Konrad Adenauer’s and Charles de Gaulle’s policy of reconciliation in the early sixties, Der erste Schritt in 1951 does not try to manufacture an image of friendship between the two countries. Instead, through the sentimental frame narrative of a letter by a young French woman to a West German politician, the film’s narrative insists that only economic cooperation, the abolition of inner-European borders, and the sharing of resources can lay the foundation for lasting peace and prosperity in a war-torn Europe. The article closes with an overview on how the film was used in PR deployments that advertised the European project. In sum, Der erste Schritt provides an important perspective on the Adenauer administration’s early imaginations of Europe, and how these images were put to work to further the FRG’s still ongoing process of consolidation during its founding years.

Emperor Menelik’s Attempts of Decentralized Governance

Abstract Emperor Menelik’s expansion was by and large a reunification process. After the first expansion, Ethiopia was parcelized due to internal and external factors, which resulted Menelik’s reunification process. After the reunification process, Menelik’s governance structure followed a decentralized system. This article looks into the evidences whereby the policies and actions of the emperor attest this. In this regard, the imperial authority was exercised through the annual collection of tribute rather than by means of direct intervention in local administration. Emperor Menelik pursued a policy of peacemaking even with the objectors against him and letting them remain on power. Menelik’s policy of tolerance and reconciliation was also demonstrated in the North-east Shoa area. The Emperor also allowed provincial governors to form their own local authorities. As a result, the article concludes that the policies and actions of the emperor was tantamount to the devolution dimension of decentralization and therefore analogous to a federal system.

Conflict imaginaries in Algeria after the black decade: peace without reconciliation

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of fieldwork carried out in France and Algeria in the spring of 2019 with survivors of the Algerian civil war (the so-called black decade of the 1990s). Interviews were filmed, thus allowing close analysis of not only verbal testimony (including narratives, tropes, and pronouns) but also gestures and body language, amounting to what Wetherell (2012) calls ‘affective practice’. Analysing closely participant reactions to the amnesty and reconciliation policies of President Bouteflika, as well as their own representations of political violence, the article moves beyond Taylor’s (2004) definition of the social imaginary as ‘the ways in which people imagine their social existence’. Focusing on constructions of conflict, the article argues for a definition of conflict imaginaries as the following: the production and reproduction of constructions around violence mobilised through shared stories, tropes and vocabularies which are inflected by time, place, multiplicity, and evident across all of these, affective value. This facilitates an understanding of how those who have survived political violence in the past experience its legacy in the present. While this paradigm is generated from Algerian data, it is hoped that it may prove applicable to other conflict zones.

The Northeast of England in the era of the Wars of the Roses (using the example of the Paston family)

The subject of the study is the participation of the English small-scale provincial nobility in the events of the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) and their behavior patterns in the context of a dynastic conflict, using the example of the fate of John Paston from Norfolk County (northeast of England). Special attention is paid to how the relationship between the average nobleman and his neighbors was built, the circle of his acquaintances, the degree of involvement in national politics, personal conflicts and motives. Both the general patterns characteristic of the fate of most representatives of the privileged class of the XV century are considered, as well as the specifics that distinguish the region specifically studied and the personalities of interest to us in comparison with data from other counties (primarily the south-west of England). The main source is the fundamental family archive "Letters of the Pastors", which contains invaluable information on the English history of the period we are interested in. The research is based on the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity and is based on the problem-chronological principle. Analytical, comparative historical and dialectical methods are used in the analysis of historical sources. Due to the fact that the study is built around the biography of a particular person, the events of the epoch we are interested in are considered from the perspective of microhistory. Within the framework of the study, the working hypothesis developed by the author in other articles ("John Trevelyan and the Wars of the Roses", "English provincial Nobility and the Wars of the Roses", "The political struggle of the era of the Wars of the Roses in the light of English parliamentary legislation") on the evolution of the policy of the royal power in relation to the provincial nobility is being tested. At the initial stage of the Wars of the Roses, the Lancastrian party is the first to move to form the ranks of its supporters in the counties, which, using the example of Norfolk, leads to a conflict between John Paston and Lord Molanes, a prominent supporter of the Lancaster dynasty. The fact that Paston did not become an active Yorkist turned into difficulties for him at the next stage, when King Edward IV switched to a policy of reconciliation of warring factions, which is why the nobles, who remained neutral during the conflict, found themselves at enmity with both supporters of the Yorks and former Lancastrians reconciled with the new dynasty.

Reckoning with Colonial Legacies of Harm: Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission

ABSTRACT Australia’s colonial era is formally over. Yet the legacies of structural inequality, dispossession, exploitation and racism against Indigenous Australia remain alive and well. In 2021, Victoria established the Yoorrook Justice Commission, culminating in a formal truth-telling and treaty process. Seeking to address harm since colonization, the state process is unprecedented both nationally and abroad. This article considers the relevance of the commission to truth recovery, accountability and structural reform in Australia. To date, national efforts to deal with the colonial past have been piecemeal and relatively ineffective. The Yoorrook Justice Commission departs from previous single-issue inquiries as well as from reconciliation policies driven by white-Australian federal institutions. While the Commission is not a panacea for resolving colonial injustice, it provides an important means of relational and structural truth-telling towards more just relations and righting racial wrongs. Ultimately, the Yoorrook Justice Commission sets a valuable precedent for Australia and other postcolonial nations. Its level of Indigenous ownership, its authority as a Royal Commission and the breadth of its inquiry make it a significant transitional justice project.

The Reconciliation Policy Factory in the Mediterranean Area: Transitional Justice as a Model for Managing a Violent Past (Part II)

The Maghreb space was and remains a specific one, conservative and little affected by European democratic processes, despite the fact that it has secular traditions with European states, especially with France, Spain and Italy. The last decades of the 20th century have radically changed the mentality of the class politics of this region, including thanks to external factors, but also internal ones, dictated by the visions of the new generation influenced by Western democratic values. However, the reconciliation process of the Maghreb countries’ societies cannot be viewed outside of the evolutionary processes that strongly influenced the respective political regimes and produced major effects on the progressive changes in the interest of the citizen. At the same time, we cannot examine the respective societies as a package, each of them having its own traditions, be it political, legal, cultural or social. In such conditions, the practice accumulated by the Maghreb countries in the implementation of transitional justice, the final objective being national reconciliation, is of increased interest for post-conflict societies, including the Republic of Moldova.

Do Men Care about Childcare? Women’s Relative Resources and Men’s Preferences for Work–Family Reconciliation Policies

Abstract Existing literature on the politics of work–family reconciliation policies focuses primarily on women and their policy preferences as the main driver of recent policy expansions. But what do we know about male preferences? This article explores this question in an innovative way by integrating insights from economic and sociological studies of division of labor and bargaining within the household. It investigates the link between women’s relative resources within the household and their male partners’ preferences for different types of reconciliation policies. Drawing on regression analysis of nineteen OECD countries using the International Social Survey Program data (Family and Changing Gender Roles IV), we find that: (1) men in dual-earner households, men in college-educated educational homogamy, and men in educational hypogamy (the woman is better educated) are more likely to support reconciliation policies; and (2) women’s earnings and education have different effects on men’s preferences.

Maternity and Paternity Leave in the Case of Single-parent Families. Problems and Proposals

The Spanish regulatory framework on Work-Life balance and co-responsibility has evolved slowly but continuously in recent decades, constantly hand in hand with European social law. The advances have been notable, although there are still certain areas in which the legislator is reluctant to enter. One of them is that of single-parent families. The data shows that it is a family model that is on the rise and that both the parents in charge and the boys and girls who make it up need protection. In terms of conciliation and co-responsibility, specifically, studies show that a specific adjustment is necessary so that this fundamental right can be exercised and protected within the framework of all types of families, including those where there is only one parent, and this is impossible to share parenting in a co-responsible way. The classic schemes and mechanisms of reconciliation policies must be rethought, modulating alternatives that consider novel issues such as the “best interests of the child” or “parenting in a network”. In order to operate this change of perspective, a study of the existing regulations is proposed considering the most advanced jurisprudential debate related to the accumulation of birth permits in the assumption of single-parent families.

Child Allowances and Work-Family Reconciliation Policies: What Best Reduces Child Poverty and Gender Inequality While Enabling Desired Fertility?

Child Allowances and Work-Family Reconciliation Policies: What Best Reduces Child Poverty and Gender Inequality While Enabling Desired Fertility?

Manufacturing the ‘News Value’: How Pan-Arab Satellite TV Journalism Participated in Shaping the Palestinian Split

Objectives: The study aims at emphasizing the term ‘news value’, as one central concept in mediatised conflicts. It so aims at examining the role that pan-Arab satellite TV journalism (henceforth PASTV) might have played in shaping political processes while covering the Palestinian internal conflict (Palestinian split). The study explores the PASTV’s involvement in the conflict and how that was reflected in the conflict and its political trajectories.
 Methods: Considering the three major pan-Arab transnational Satellite TV (PASTV) channels; Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, and Al-Mayadeen as case studies, the study draws on qualitative data generated through a non-probability, reputational snowball sample, of thirty semi-structured interviews with key Palestinian ‘insiders’ in the two sectors of news media and politics, for their insight on the issue of research and its interlaced dimensions.
 Results: Data analysis shows with evidence, how, in their sought to meet the interests of their financers of political powers, PASTV channels framed the news –in varied levels between them- to create/maximize the news value and attract public attention. PASTV aimed at creating public consonance with a local ally, also marketing fear from the ‘other’. While serving their financers, PASTV produced ‘instrumental journalism’, and participated in shaping Palestinian politics, and the perpetuation of conflict became a by-product.
 Conclusions: Considering the interventionist role that most PASTV channels played. It is recommended that PASTV journalism can play both an objective and constructive role, and foster reconciliation policy prescriptions.

When mothers do it all: gender-role norms, women’s employment, and fertility intentions in post-industrial societies

Abstract Post-industrial countries with high rates of female labour force participation have generally had low fertility rates, but recent studies demonstrate that this is no longer the case. This has generated increased attention to how greater gender equality in the private sphere of the household may contribute to a positive relationship between women’s employment rates and fertility. Building on recent scholarship demonstrating the multidimensionality of gender-role attitudes, we argue that conversely, the prevalence of a gender-role ideology that supports women’s employment but places greater priority on their role as caregivers may depress the higher-order fertility intentions of working mothers. Using data from 25 European countries, we find that this type of gender-role ideology (egalitarian familism) moderates the relationship between mothers’ full-time employment and their intention to have a second child. This holds even after accounting for key features of the policy environment that are likely to mitigate work–family conflict. The analysis suggests that conflicting normative expectations for women’s work and family roles tend to dampen working mothers’ second-order fertility intentions, independent of work–family reconciliation policies.

The Reconciliation Policy Factory in the Mediterranean Area: Transitional Justice as a Model for Managing a Violent Past (Part I)

The Maghreb space was and remains a specific one, conservative and little affected by European democratic processes, despite the fact that it has secular traditions with European states, especially with France, Spain and Italy. The last decades of the 20th century have radically changed the mentality of the class politics of this region, including thanks to external factors, but also internal ones, dictated by the visions of the new generation influenced by Western democratic values. However, the reconciliation process of the Maghreb countries’ societies cannot be viewed outside of the evolutionary processes that strongly influenced the respective political regimes and produced major effects on the progressive changes in the interest of the citizen. At the same time, we cannot examine the respective societies as a package, each of them having its own traditions, be it political, legal, cultural or social. In such conditions, the practice accumulated by the Maghreb countries in the implementation of transitional justice, the final objective being national reconciliation, is of increased interest for post-conflict societies, including the Republic of Moldova.

Salvador Allende and Argentine Military Rule: Domestic Politics, Geopolitical Factors and Transnational Dimensions, 1970–3

AbstractThe 1970 election of Salvador Allende as president of Chile gained international attention, as a declared Marxist came to power through elections, offering an alternative to Castro's Cuba. In Argentina, governed by a right-wing dictatorship, the initial fear was transformed into a policy of rapprochement. In the midst of the Cold War, the historical Argentine–Brazilian rivalry was stronger than both military regimes' anti-communism. General Alejandro Lanusse decided to support Allende's Chile to balance Brazil's influence, but also as a way to control the domestic repercussions of Allende's victory, especially the rise of revolutionary slogans and the circulation of guerrillas. This article traces the network of national, international and transnational factors that influenced a surprising bilateral relationship.

The issue of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgian-russian interstate relations

In this article the authors explore historical and legal grounds of separatist tendencies in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the role of russia in stirring up the confrontation of autonomies with Georgia and influence of these processes on Georgian-russian interstate relations. In the authors’s opinion separatist tendencies in South Ossetia and Abkhazia are of a long-term nature and were shaping through Soviet national policy, the federal system of the USSR, lack of centralized power in Georgia during the period of disintegration of the USSR, dissatisfaction of regions because of Georgia implementing ethnonational policy, active participation of russia in inciting separatist movements. Over the years, russia has actually interfered in the internal politics of Georgia, explaining this with the concept of «special responsibility». russia’s policy was carried out under the guise of neutrality and peacemaking, which helped for a certain period of time to convince the international community that russia was trying to resolve the conflict.The rapprochement policy and creation of a system of agreements with self-proclaimed republics is part of Russia’s plan to maintain influence in the South Caucasus region, create obstacles for Georgia on its way to Euro-Atlantic integration, and prevent any US advance in the region. Prospects for conflict resolution in the short term are insignificant, since it is beneficial for russia to delay the frozen state as long as possible. On the other hand, Georgia is unable to solve the issue of the return of Abkhazian and Ossetian autonomies on its own without sufficient military power, economic potential and the support of Western allies, who currently have a war in Ukraine on their agenda. Therefore, the most likely development of events in the region is strategic patience, which over time will most likely benefit only one side of the conflict.

Политические и гендерные аспекты прихода к власти и правления Марии Тюдор

The article examines theconditions of thecoming to power of the EnglishQueenMary Tudor and the peculiarities of herreign, including from the point of view of gender aspects. It is shown that, while condemning Mary I Tudor for her adherence to Catholicism, many historians do not mention the positive aspects of her short reign of England. Mary Tudor came to power at a difficult time for the Kingdom. Having no experience of governing the country, Maria brought the statesmen who had recently opposed her closer to her. Catholicism in England has once again become the state religion. The Queen carried out a number of successful financial reforms, largely laying the foundations for the rule of her successor, Elizabeth I. The policy of rapprochement with the Habsburgs, which culminated in the creation of the Anglo-Spanish Union, was also of no small importance for the country. Maria Tudor made many decisions under the influence of her Spanish spouse, which corresponded to the gender perceptions of that time.

The cult of Sarapis in Hellenistic Egypt as a continuation of the policy of "merging peoples"

As part of their policy aimed at creating a strong Hellenistic Egypt, the Ptolemies created and maintained the syncretic cult of Sarapis. Ancient sources have preserved several beautiful stories and legends about the appearance of this god and his cult in Egypt. The purpose of this work is to clarify the political role of this cult in Egypt, the peculiarities of its perception by different segments of the population, which ultimately influenced the change in the Ptolemaic policy towards the local population. The main research methods are both general philosophical methods – analysis and synthesis, and special – comparative-historical and comparative-genetic methods. In the modern world, there are a large number of countries (including Russia) in which different peoples live, having different traditions and beliefs. The study of the Egyptian version of the policy of "merging peoples" and the cult of Sarapis, as one of its components, helps to understand what factors should be avoided in an attempt to smooth out contradictions and create a strong interethnic association, which determines the relevance and novelty of the study. According to the creators, the cult of Sarapis should have been understandable and close to both Greeks and Egyptians. Therefore, the image of God, traditions and rituals included Greek and Egyptian elements, which was supposed to bring the population closer together on the basis of worship of this god and contribute to strengthening the central government. But in reality it turned out that in Egypt itself the cult of Sarapis did not become popular with either the Hellenes or the local population. The policy of uniting different ethnic groups on the basis of the religious factor without carrying out the same policy of rapprochement in other spheres (military, administrative, etc.) was doomed to failure.

International legal status of the Free City of Danzig (1920-1939)

The article is devoted to a little-studied page of the history of international law and international legal personality - the status of the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk) in 1920-1939. The topic of such state entities with a special international regime of territory and subjectivity is a veryinteresting page of the international experience of settling territorial disputes between states. Unfortunately, their research in the Ukrainian international law (in particular, the international legal status of the Neutral Moresnet and the Free City of Krakow) began to appear only in recent years.
 The article examines the history of Danzig and the circumstances that actualized the issue of its statehood after the end of the First World War. It was emphasized that the decision to create the Free City was a compromise between the interests of Poland and the residents of Danzig on the one hand, and the interests of various victorious states on the other.
 The main sources of the international legal status of the Free City of Danzig are highlighted. The peculiarities of the international legal personality of Danzig in the context of relations between the Free City and Poland and the League of Nations are analyzed. Special attention is paid to various aspects of legal personality, in particular: external relations and membership in international organizations; economic issue; guarantees of the security of the Free City. It is substantiated that, despite the special regime of the territory and the limitation of sovereignty, Danzig was an independent state in the international context.
 The reasons that led to the end of the history of the Free City of Danzig are singled out, in particular: permanent conflicts with Poland; the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations as a key guarantor of the security of the Free City; the coming to power of the Nazis in Danzig and their policy of rapprochement with Nazi Germany. It is shown that in the future the use of such formats for the resolution of international disputes is impractical due to the impossibility of considering the entire set of circumstances.

Policy(s) of Reconciliation of Family and Professional Obligations in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The paper analyzes the policy(s) of harmonizing family and professional obligations in the context of the legal regulations of both domestic and international documents that are applied in B&H. The subject of the research is based on the analysis of family policy measures that are directly aimed at harmonizing family and professional obligations in B&H, by reviewing the existing policies and practices of social and labor legislation at the level of three administrative units: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska and The Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As part of the research, current measures and activities that are regulated by laws in B&H, such as maternity/parental leave (time), maternity benefits (money), and childcare services (services of preschool institutions) were analyzed as important factors when harmonizing family and professional obligations. The policies of harmonizing family and professional obligations in B&H are harmonized with EU standards, but they are not sufficiently developed, which means that parents must make additional efforts to meet the demands of the workplace and the family. To achieve a balance between the demands of the labor market, the level of monetary benefits and the length of payment, the possibility of taking leave and the use of childcare services, taking into account the circumstances first in the economic sense, it is necessary to work on improving the measures in this area, respecting and the choice of the parents themselves.

Gender Gaps in Wages and Managerial Positions: Do Family-Oriented Policies Contribute to Achieving Gender Equality among European University Graduates?

This article analyzes the gender gap in wages and access to managerial positions among university graduates in 12 European countries and explores the capability of work-family balance policies to close these gaps. Using the REFLEX database, we apply the coarsened exact matching algorithm to construct a balanced sample of women and men with the same academic characteristics (field of study, internships, and academic achievement, among others). The analysis reveals that the academic program characteristics play a relevant role in labor market outcomes as the gender gaps diminish when controlling for academic features. We find that gender differences in hourly wages and access to top wages are smaller in countries with longer paid paternity leaves and larger enrollment rates of children aged 0-3 years in preschools. In contrast, work-family reconciliation policies have little effect on the constraints women face in accessing high-level positions that require strong commitment and availability.

Trajectory of Us and China Rivalry in Developing Zimbabwe

Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe’s foreign policy has evolved from being characterised by a policy of reconciliation which earned it recognition on the international stage, to a policy based on African liberation fundamentals shaped by the country’s land reform programme that dominated Zimbabwe’s international relations and foreign policy. This saw Zimbabwe’s relations with the West becoming strained which resulted in the country being regarded as a pariah state. Zimbabwe sought to survive through new alliances and in turn focused on China and the Far East, which saw the formulation of the Look East policy (LEP). Zimbabwe’s development from the turn of the century has been hamstrung by several factors which have emerged both internally and externally. The deterioration of the country’s relations with the United States of America resulted in the imposition of sanctions and subsequently the country being unable to receive funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. This heavily impacted Zimbabwe’s development. Despite China pledging assistance in the midst of isolation, Zimbabwe’s development has not improved much. This paper seeks to analyse how the competition between the US and China has affected Zimbabwe’s development from 2000-2017. The paper is divided into five sections which are structured as follows; (i) introduction, (ii) bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and the US and China, (iii) the manifestation of trilateral relations (iv) effects of the rivalry on Zimbabwe and (v) the conclusion.