Post-conflict Societies Research Articles

A Curator in the House of Memory: Restoration, Implication and the Post-Conflict Novel in Aminatta Forna’s The Hired Man

ABSTRACT Aminatta Forna’s novel The Hired Man, on post-war Croatia, attests to the author's continued interest in transitional, post-conflict societies where mass atrocity and human rights violations such as forced disappearance and ethnic cleansing have taken place. Drawing on the conceptual framework of transitional justice and memory studies, this paper argues that the novel deepens and extends the concerns of post-conflict fiction in two main ways. Firstly, it explores the role of ordinary individuals as agents of restorative justice in small communities. The actual restoration of the house at the centre of the narrative transforms the building into a permanent site of memory that challenges collective amnesia and functions as a monument to coexistence on which to model future social relations. Secondly, the narrative provides an apt illustration of Rothberg’s notion of implication, foregrounding a model of indirect responsibility for historical injustice that problematises the figure of the naïve outsider through the foreign characters in the story. The narrative will work to engage these characters in collective restorative actions in the country’s troubled progress towards a fairer and more sustainable peace. The use of situational irony to enhance the theme of the indestructibility of the past will also be addressed.

‘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.

Genesis of the Crisis Response Civil Component in the European Union: Parameters, Problems, and Interaction with Russia

The article features the civil component of the crisis response in the European Union, as well as the Russian role in its development. With the new security threats and challenges, the civilian instruments necessary for the post-conflict society stabilization are becoming increasingly important. The research was based on the universal evolutionism and included such methods as conceptual and structural modeling, comparative analysis, and historical approach. The methods made it possible to reveal the civil component within the crisis management system of the European Union. The civil component unites and coordinates European national resources, creates platforms and opportunities for experience exchange, increases the motivation and professionalism of experts, etc. The author also focused on the interaction between the European Union and the Russian Federation in this sphere. The key parameters for developing the civil dimension of crisis response include two points: (1) the political will to implement the civilian component of security policy by the European Union institutions and member states, (2) the will to solve the problem of human resources. For the current and foreseeable Russian-European relations, the cooperation potential of the civilian component of crisis response is not included in the security policy. The research makes a significant contribution to the study of the European Union development problems, genesis and development parameters of the civil missions, and the Russian-European dialogue.

Divergent Perceptions of Peace in Post-Conflict Societies: Insights from Sri Lanka

Research on postwar peace focuses primarily on how elites and institutions can prevent relapse into civil war. In line with this special issue’s focus on citizens’ experiences, we take a micro-level approach to explore peace beyond the absence of war. We investigate how members of opposing sides experience peace a decade after a decisive victory of the majority. Using original survey data from a representative sample of 2000 respondents in 2018 Sri Lanka, we find that even one decade after the conflict members of the Sinhalese winning majority are consistently more likely to report improvements in peace than Tamils, who were represented by the defeated minority. But the benefit of a “victor’s peace” does not seem to translate into an optimistic outlook of the victorious group, nor does it increase people’s endorsement for repressive state measures. Despite the drastically improved physical security for the defeated ethnic minority since the war, they experience a deterioration in other dimensions of peace. Our findings have important implications for a deeper understanding of variations in peace and reconciliation processes.

The Truth Commission as a Tool for Accessing and Disseminating Information: Realization of the Right to Truth in Post-Conflict Societies

The Truth Commission as a Tool for Accessing and Disseminating Information: Realization of the Right to Truth in Post-Conflict Societies

The Past Explains the Present: Dealing with Anfal in the Kurdistan Region

Abstract“Transitional justice” refers to a set of strategies for promoting reconciliation in societies that have been ravaged by conflict and human rights abuses in the recent past. In some cases, however, the political leaders of post-conflict societies choose not to pursue transitional justice, instead preferring to keep the status-quo peace. This essay explores the situation in the Kurdistan region of Iraq after the genocidal Anfal campaign of the late 1980s. The Kurdish political authorities at the time did not use any transitional justice measure against the Kurds who collaborated in the persecution and killing of their fellow Kurds. Instead, they declared a unilateral amnesty for all collaborators, without the consent of the victims’ families. This paper argues that this grant of “blanket amnesty,” which protected the accused from legal liability at the expense of victims’ right to justice, brought neither justice nor peace. Conversely, it negatively affected the process of democratization, rule of law, and social reconciliation in the region. The paper concludes that justice and lasting peace will not be realized in the region if the abuses of the past are left unaddressed.

Beyond return and resettlement: The impact of exposure and interactions on the post-conflict development of North Waziristan

AbstractThis article shares empirical data about the returned and resettled natives and communities of North Waziristan Tribal District in Pakistan, which are undergoing the processes of post-conflict reconstruction and development. In order to present an analysis of the impact of prolonged conflict-induced displacement on the spatially excluded (or bounded) communities of North Waziristan, an inductive approach utilising qualitative methods and semi-structured interviews has been adopted to establish detailed accounts of the ‘networks of interactions’ and ‘displacement-induced exposure’. The findings further suggest that these interactions and networks are transcending and redefining the margins (viz. material space), and the social space of North Waziristan since the natives have expressed growing inclinations towards movement in mainstream Pakistan. The aforementioned arguments establish new perspectives—admittedly controversial—where prolonged conflict-induced displacement has attributed to unintended ‘development’ for spatially excluded communities. Essentially, this article argues that the subject of displacement and post-conflict societies deserves further scrutiny beyond resettlement and return.

The role of civil society organisations in peacebuilding in post-conflict society: Kenya and Nigeria

The complex and protracted nature of contemporary violent conflicts in Nigeria and other parts of the world poses increasingly significant challenges to the resolution of armed conflicts. Traditional peace mediation strategies and techniques have proven largely inefficient in responding to emerging security challenges presented by conflicts revolving around religious and ethnopolitical affiliations or other issues related to perceptions of group identity. The objectives of the paper are to review the works of civil society organisations (CSOs) in peacebuilding in post-conflict areas. The paper is limited to Plateau State in Nigeria and the post-election violence of 2008 in Kenya because of the efforts put in place by the CSOs in these countries. Based on the findings, the use of non-military or non-use force to resolve conflict provides lasting solutions because it brings the aggrieved parties to the roundtable to vent their grievances, complaints and perspectives about the issue at hand. The participation of the civil society organisations in volatile situations in Kenya and Nigeria has yielded tremendous success because they utilise the residents affected by the violence to fine-tune measures to address the problems. Keywords: Civil, peace, peacebuilding, organisation

Ex-combatants as civic activists in post-conflict societies: KLA members in Kosovar civil society

ABSTRACT Claiming that ex-combatants should be seen as addressing different societal needs in post-conflict societies through varied civic work, this study tries to answer how KLA ex-combatants perceive the roles they play in the civil life of post-conflict Kosovo and how they think their communities perceive them and their civic activities. It utilizes data from state, NGO, and international organizations’ reports, and 15 semi-structured in-depth interviews with the KLA ex-combatants. It shows that ex-combatants describe themselves as civic activists enthusiastic about helping their communities and rebuilding the post-conflict society. How KLA members perceive social relations in post-conflict Kosovo and their past experiences shape their understanding of the role of peacebuilding through civic activism, resulting in different perceptions of peace and their worth in their society.

Narratives of life after political imprisonment: Republican and Loyalist ex-prisoners in Northern Ireland

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of prison experience in ex-political prisoners in Northern Ireland in the context of changing and conflicting master narratives.Design/methodology/approachA series of nine interviews were conducted with Loyalist and Republican political ex-prisoners in Northern Ireland. Eight were male and one was female. All had been in prison for substantial sentences relating to the Troubles.FindingsThis study highlighted the challenges faced by political ex-prisoners regarding the changing conflicting master narratives in Northern Ireland and identified how they deal with these challenges. The participants adapted to post-conflict society by attempting to understand and make sense of their experiences, including justifying their actions as appropriate for the era and identifying positive changes in society resulting from the conflict.Research limitations/implicationsA narrative approach can be beneficial for understanding the experiences of political ex-prisoners. It enables a theoretical perspective to look not only at the personal but also at social elements of why people behave as they do. The findings demonstrate that political ex-prisoners do have different experiences to non-political ex-prisoners. The sample size was small and was drawn from a specific group of political ex-prisoners who were actively seeking reconciliation. The findings may be different for other groups.Practical implicationsA narrative approach can help the practitioner understand the context in which a person lives; ex-political prisoners may be very different from ordinary ex-prisoners because of the context in which they were imprisoned and the reasons for which they were imprisoned. They are likely to continue with the narrative of the conflict they fought in and may still have the same aims (e.g. Northern Ireland to become part of Ireland), though they may or may not believe in the same means. These are issues that should be discussed and elaborated when working with ex-political prisoners.Social implicationsThe master narratives active in the society into which the political ex-prisoner is released may impact the success or otherwise of their re-integration into society.Originality/valueUnderstanding the role of conflicting master narratives in dealing with the implications of being an ex-political prisoner.

Distinct Psychological Profiles Linking Childhood Adversity and Substance Misuse in High-Risk Young Adults

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) constitute a key determinant in the development of substance misuse. However, the understanding of how ACEs cultivate this risk lacks the specificity needed to inform effective prevention and intervention practices. This issue may be remedied by exploring the distinction between ACEs and their effects on development. The present study investigated whether distinct patterns of adversity are differentially associated with substance misuse along unique profiles of psychological variables, namely anxiety and punishment sensitivity – an internalizing profile – versus reward sensitivity and executive functioning – an externalizing profile. Using a cross-sectional retrospective design, 124 high-risk young adults completed assessments of childhood adversity and psychological functioning. We employed the ACE-IQ to capture extended ACEs such as community and collective violence, as our sample grew up in the post-conflict society of Northern Ireland. Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed three patterns of adversity co-occurrence – Childhood Maltreatment, Household Dysfunction and Community Adversity, all of which independently predicted different types of substance misuse. Childhood Maltreatment was significantly associated with heavy drug use probability; Household Dysfunction was associated with cannabis dependence probability; and Community Adversity was associated with both cannabis dependence and heavy drug use probability. Logistic regressions (all p < .05) showed that heavy drug use probability was predicted by Childhood Maltreatment and anxiety in one model, and by Community Adversity and reduced punishment sensitivity in another, suggesting that different types of ACEs were associated with partially distinct outcomes in this sample. These results support the proposal that different ACE subtypes confer distinct effects, which carries clinical implications for substance misuse prevention and intervention.

Victimhood beliefs are linked to willingness to engage in intergroup contact with the former adversary through empathy and trust

After intergroup conflicts end, beliefs about past suffering of the ingroup compared to an outgroup influence relations between former adversaries. In Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, we simultaneously examined the effects of inclusive victimhood (i.e., a belief that both the ingroup and a former adversary suffered similarly) and competitive victimhood (i.e., a belief that the ingroup suffered more than a former adversary) on willingness to engage in contact with a former adversary, a precursor of positive changes in postconflict societies. In one correlational ( NAlbanians = 159; NCroat s = 227) and two experimental studies ( NAlbanians = 161; NCroats = 341, preregistered), inclusive victimhood was linked to higher willingness to engage in contact with former adversaries through higher empathy (Studies 1 to 3) and trust (Studies 1 and 2). In contrast, competitive victimhood was associated with lower willingness to engage in contact through lower empathy (Study 1) and trust (Studies 1 and 3). We discuss the practical implications of our findings for interventions in postconflict societies.

“Ethnicizing” the EU's Involvement in Post-conflict Societies: The Case of Ontological Insecurity in Republika Srpska

The main aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on ontological security by empirically investigating how the European Union (EU), which is perceived as one of the most important actors that provides means and/ or grounds for overcoming antagonisms through transformation of the ‘Self-Other’ dialectics, fails to become an agent of peace. Drawing on the case of Republika Srpska (RS), a political entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), we aim to understand how the EU’s post-conflict stabilization efforts, which, among others, presuppose the de-intensification of the antagonistic identity narratives, become entrapped in ethnopolitical narratives, and even ‘ethnicized’ by the ethnopolitical elite in RS. To answer these questions, we analyzed news articles at two critical junctures, namely the negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (2005–2007) and the Butmir Process (2009), two of the most important EU-driven initiatives in post-conflict BiH. We find that those initiatives, which promised to make BiH more functional and stable, challenged the existing ethnopolitical narratives in BiH, particularly on the side of the ethnopolitical elite in RS.

Peacebuilding Through Early Childhood Care and Education in a Post-Conflict Society: The Roles of the Parents and the Early Childhood Development Centres in Gulu District, Northern Uganda

This article presents a qualitative study conducted in Gulu district, northern Uganda, in 2018 and 2019 on peacebuilding through early childhood care and education. The aim of the study was to understand the roles played by the parents and early childhood development institutions in promoting peacebuilding traits in children, which is not the norm in evidence-based studies and literature. The study was framed by the ecology-of-peace framework, the root causes or justice theory and the sociocultural theory. The study was exploratory, cross-sectional and descriptive in nature and adopted two non-probability sampling techniques, namely purposive and convenience sampling. Semi-structured primary source data were collected through key informant interviews. Other sources of data were four non-participatory observations of children in three centres and document reviews of the Ugandan National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy and its action plan, lesson plans and the curriculum. The findings indicate that many of the core parental roles fulfil the requirements for successful peacebuilding through early childhood care and education approaches, yet have gone unnoticed in peacebuilding and early childhood care and education. The role of early childhood care and education complement that of parents in preparing children to be better citizens. Recommendations are directed to stakeholders to support early childhood care and education.

It’s a Matter of Trust: Ngāi Tahu Democratic Processes and Māori Pākehā Research Partnership

The Ngāi Tahu indigenous Māori community of Aotearoa/New Zealand successfully maintained 150 years of legal grievance against the British Crown following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and colonization. The importance of women leaders, the guiding role of elders, the long-term commitment to intergenerational health for all tribal members, the democratic processes in the current context for Ngāi Tahu iwi within Aotearoa and engagement with the legal system was crucial in building towards a post-conflict society. Alongside this there were and are creative empowerment processes that nourished cultural vitality. This paper shares a ‘conversational exchange’ about the processes that occurred after Treaty of Waitangi settlement was reached, as the tribe stepped into the challenge of navigating the complicated additional corporate, bureaucratic, governance, and legal structures. The eldest Māori woman from Ōtākou Marae, Te Waipounamu (South Island), describes her experience of listening to the old people, going to tribal hui (meetings) and creating support and services in the Māori community. Her words, presented in full, modelling innovative methodology that prioritises the role of transparent Southern Māori and Pākehā conversation in a post-settlement environment. The relationship of trust between the authors, representing two cultures with a history of colonization, grew over several decades of shared discussion, cultural supervision and listening. Our kōrero (conversation) begins with one question: What are the effects of democracy on sustainable culture and community?

Changing the Script: Non-State Armed Groups, Restorative Justice and Reparations

AbstractThis article examines the role of Non-State Armed Groups (NSAGs) and their former members in delivering reparations to victims and communities affected by past acts of violence. The article draws from extensive interviews with former members of armed groups, victims and communities affected by violence in Colombia, Guatemala, Nepal, Northern Ireland, Peru and Uganda. Grounded in the theory and practice of restorative justice, this article critiques the legalistic and state-centric analysis which often characterizes the field of reparations and makes four interconnected arguments. First, that NSAG engagement in reparations can offer a unique practical contribution to meeting the needs of victims (including truth recovery, the recovery of disappeared bodies, de-mining etc.) but also represent a powerful symbolic effort to restore the human dignity of victims and a commitment to prevent violence from recurring. Second, that by taking ‘active responsibility’ through reparations work for past violence, NSAGs and ex-combatants can themselves become involved in processes of delabelling and destigmatization, finding routes to demonstrate their own humanity, and in some cases, becoming involved in work that resonates with the political ideology that motivated them to engage in political violence in the first place. Third, that NSAG reparations can play a significant role in societal and political transformation in post conflict societies, with ex-combatants themselves being key drivers for change through such reparative work. The article concludes by arguing that NSAG and ex-combatant reparative work can represent a self-conscious effort to ‘change the script’, transforming relationships previously defined by violence and harm to ones designed to improve the lives of victims, ex-combatants themselves and the societies in which they live.

Influence of Intergroup Contact, Ethnicity and Education on Social Distance in Kosovo

Reducing social distance between communities with a previous history of violence is one of the crucial challenges in post-conflict societies. Social distance refers to the degree of understanding and intimacy between members of different groups. In this respect, this study examined the influence of direct intergroup contact, extended intergroup contact (i.e., knowing that a member of the ingroup has a positive relationship with a member of the outgroup), education and ethnicity on social distance in Kosovo. The sample of this study consisted of Kosovo Albanian (N = 125) and Serbian participants (N = 103) from ethnically mixed and non-mixed areas in Kosovo. Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the results show that direct intergroup contact, extended intergroup contact, ethnicity and education are significant predictors of social distance in Kosovo. Among the variables studied, ethnicity was found as the best predictor of social distance in Kosovo. Consistent with the previous findings, the study results show that increased frequency of direct intergroup contact and extended intergroup contact reduced social distance in Kosovo. Similarly, the results show that an increased level of education reduced social distance only among Albanian participants.

Peche problems

ABSTRACTAs declarations of a possible “end of AIDS” emerged during the epidemic's fourth decade, some HIV‐prevention efforts shifted to address social conditions and individual dispositions among the populations most affected. In Peru, where HIV was concentrated among transgender women and gay men, health science positioned transactional sex as one site of intervention. Gay and transgender communities themselves circulated stories that dramatized transactional sex. Set against the backdrop of Peru's armed conflict (1980–2000), these stories pivoted on peches—the small gifts given to incentivize sexual and romantic relationships—and reflected a shared moral imaginary linked to the context of postconflict society. Interpreting transactional sex like a peche illuminates the moral dimensions of the category and suggests that the technical project of achieving an “end of AIDS” future is also imaginative and moralizing. Peches thus offer an interpretive approach to the persistent tensions between local and globalized categories, in relation to both HIV/AIDS and more broadly to other contexts. [sexuality, transactional sex, HIV/AIDS, end of AIDS, gay, transgender, morality, Peru]

Gender Bias in Policy Representation in Post-Conflict Societies

Do politicians represent the policy preferences of men and women equally post-war? Gender inclusiveness has particularly high stakes in this context: research shows that it can help sustain peace. We use a series of survey experiments with politicians ( N = 1389) and voters ( N = 3049) to study gender bias in policy representation in a post-conflict setting: Bosnia. We find a significant pro-male bias in the policy responsiveness of local politicians (both men and women) to their constituency preferences. We do not find evidence that this is because men are more active and vocal about expressing their policy preferences. Instead, this bias is present in the post-war society more generally: politicians’ attitudes reflect the pro-male bias among voters, both men and women. These results have important implications for the study of gender and post-conflict politics.

Inter-religious Dialogue among Young People in a Post-Conflict Society

This article offers insight into how an ever-widening gap between two communities of young people of different ethnic and religious background, living side by side without contact, can be addressed by local initiatives coming from within informal groups of community members. The figures given illustrate the prevalence of ignorance of “the other” among young people aged 15 to 19 who attend a specific form of school unique to Bosnia and Herzegovina that segregates students across ethnic lines. The grassroots project described in the article encompasses surveys, awareness campaigns, publishing, and workshop activities implemented in a geographically distinct and religiously diverse area of the upper Vrbas Valley in Central Bosnia.