Reconciliation and Transitional Justice:
A Literature Review
compiled by Peacemakers Trust
- Appleby, R. Scott. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence and Reconciliation. (review by Catherine Morris)
- Assefa, Hizkias. "The Meaning of Reconciliation." (annotation by Catherine Morris)
- de Gruchy, John W. Reconciliation: Restoring Justice. (annotation by Catherine Morris)
- Lederach, John Paul. The Journey Toward Reconciliation. (review by Aron Tegenfeld)
Note that this literature review is in progress. Please check back regularly to see new entries. In the meantime, see Peacemakers Trust bibliography pages on Reconciliation and Transitional Justice, Apology and Forgiveness, Restorative Justice, Religious Perspectives on Conflict Resolution, International Conflict, Indigenous Peoples and Conflict Resolution, Dialogue and Deliberation, and other pages.
Go to Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding Bibliography
Appleby, R. Scott. The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence and Reconciliation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. ISBN 0-8476-8555-1 429 pages.
Review by Catherine Morris
Religion is frequently despised these days as a source of political extremism and deadly conflict. History certainly provides plenty of examples of religiously based terrorism and atrocities by adherents of many different religious traditions. Others deny that religion "causes" conflict, saying that true religion upholds human life, and that religious proponents of violence are not "true" exemplars of Christianity, Islam or other religions.
Scott Appleby takes neither of these polar positions. Instead, he points out the ambivalence of sacred texts and religious actors about violence and peace. Dr. Appleby also distinguishes between violent and nonviolent religious militance. Using case studies of violent religious extremism and nonviolent religious activism, he shows that both approaches are "religious" in nature. He suggests that violence is always a temptation for all religious activists because they all seek justice (as they understand it) often in the face of violence by their opponents which may include the state.
Scott Appleby, a historian of Catholicism and a leading scholar of "fundamentalism" is one of a number of scholars now considering the role and potential of religion for peacebuilding. This book is in two parts. Part One attempts to "come to terms" with the themes of violence and peace within several religions. Part Two discusses the "logic" of religious peacebuilding.
Chapters one and two show how religious actors use scripture and religious tradition to legitimate political violence, or even to justify it as a sacred duty. Appleby also discusses the connections between religion and ethnonationalism in which violence is legitimated as a necessary strategy for liberation. He uses illustrations from the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Appleby's most striking conclusion is that is it not religion but "religious illiteracy" that increases the likelihood of collective violence in a crisis situation. That is, if people are poorly educated in basic theological knowledge of their religion, they can easily be manipulated into militarist fervour by ideologically driven charismatic religious political leaders who evoke potent religious symbolism toward nationalistic goals.
Chapters three and four discuss the far less studied side of religion - religious peacemaking and nonviolent religious militance. Appleby draws case studies about Buddhist peacemaking in Cambodia as well as the work of the Mennonite Central Committee, the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio, and the World Conference on Religion and Peace. In Chapter five, he discusses reconciliation and the "politics of forgiveness" using examples from Northern Ireland and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Part two begins with a chapter that outlines a typology of religious conflict transformation. "Conflict management," he says, includes raising public awareness of causes of conflict while also seeking ways to avoid violence in the inevitable confrontations that occur with mobilization toward social justice. The work of Buddhist activist Aung San Suu Kyi is noted. "Conflict resolution" includes efforts at education and dialogue to reduce ethno-religious hatred. The efforts in Northern Ireland are cited. Conflict resolution also includes good offices and mediation by religious actors. Appleby illustrates with examples of mediation by Muslim jurists, Mennonite mediators, Christian bishops, and local churches. "Post conflict peacebuilding" and "structural reform" comprise a third broad type of conflict transformation work in which religious actors are involved in a range of activities including social criticism, humanitarian relief or advocacy on behalf of the poor or oppressed.
Dr. Appleby also points to three "modes" of religious conflict transformation. Religious actors may be involved in "crisis mobilization" such as Gandhi's mobilization of nonviolent resistence of British rule, or the nonviolent revolutions in the Philippines and Poland. The "saturation mode" is illustrated by the peacework in Northern Ireland that has gone on continuously for decades at multiple levels of society to the point that conflict transformation activities have become broadly institutionalized. Appleby suggests that "conflict transformation in the saturation mode stands the best chance of evolving into actual religious peacebuilding." (237) The "saturation mode" is rare, so a third mode, the "interventionist mode" is seen as "the next best thing." The interventionist mode includes mediation by external and internal religious actors. This mode also includes teaching of local actors at several levels, including grass roots, middle and senior levels of the society in quest ion - the work and influence of John Paul Lederach is cited.
If I were told I must select a favourite chapter I might choose Chapter 7's now timely discussion of "The Promise of Internal Pluralism" in which Prof. Appleby discusses the internal debates about human rights, democracy, violence and peace within Islam and Christianity. This chapter offers many citations for further research, so it is a useful starting point for people wishing to go beyond simplistic or totalizing understandings to explore the diversity of opinion about peace and violence within these religions.
The final chapter returns to the theme of ambivalence. Rather than seeing religious ambivalence as wholly negative, Appleby see ambivalence toward violence as providing "an opening, an opportunity to cultivate tolerance and openness toward the other..."
This book is hopeful, but it is not naive, politically or spiritually. Appleby recognizes that religious peacebuilding has severe limitations in terms of will and current resources. Above all, this book reflects the perspectives of a learned scholar who has read and listened broadly, deeply and respectfully to many people with diverse religious and political perspectives. This book is recommended for acquisition by universities with international relations, international development, religious studies or conflict studies programs. Scott Appleby's book is a "must read" for anyone seriously engaged in peacework, whether religiously based or not. The book's rich detail, its case studies and close to a hundred pages of notes and bibliography make it very worthwhile to consider for personal bookshelves. This is a very good book. I will refer to it again and again.
Assefa, Hizkias. "The Meaning of Reconciliation." In People Building Peace. Utrecht, Netherlands: European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation, n.d.
Annotation by Catherine Morris
This seven-page article compares reconciliation to "conflict handling" mechanisms such as negotiation, mediation and adjudication. Hizkias Assefa categorizes conflict handline processes into three groups: conflict management, conflict resolution, and conflict prevention. Force and adjudication (as well as some processes of negotiation and mediation) are categorized as "conflict management" processes in that they are not intended to address the sources of conflict. Rather they attempt to mitigate or control destructive consequences of conflict. "Conflict resolution" and "conflict prevention" approaches (which may include negotiation, mediation or reconciliation), are intended to involve all the participants in finding ways to address the sources of conflict.
Reconciliation processes aim to address the intertwined relationships involved in many complex conflicts. Reconciliation involves all parties in acknowledgment of harms and injuries, regret for harms, apologies, letting go of anger, commitments of offenders not to repeat injuries, effort to redress past grievances and compensate for the damage. Reconciliation processes involve all parties' in self-reflection so that all those involved may take responsibility for their own behaviour and contributions to the conflict. Reconciliation... refers to a "new relationship that emerges as a consequence of these processes.."
Dr. Assefa concludes by clarifying the relationship between reconciliation and justice. "Justice and equity are at the core of reconciliation." Reconciliation "does not mean that the offenders are just pardoned." However, in reconciliation processes the approach to justice is restorative rather than retributive. Reconciliation processes attempt to create "a process and an environment where the offenders take the responsibility to acknowledge their offense and get motivated to change the situation and relationship in a positive and durable manner instead of keep denying their guilt until it is proven to them by the juridical process." Dr. Assefa points out that processes like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa have attempted reconciliation, and have been successful in obtaining voluntarily acknowledgment of guilt by some offenders, but they have not gone far enough towards sincere remorse, or active compensation or repair of relationships.
de Gruchy, John W. Reconciliation: Restoring Justice. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. 255 pages. ISBN 0-8006-3600-7
Annotation by Catherine Morris
In this book, John W. de Gruchy, a distinguished South African theologian, explores the topic of reconciliation in light of recent South African experience. He examines the history of various Christian interpretations of "reconciliation." As a Christian theologian, he is of the view that reconciliation is at the heart of the Christian faith, and is initiated primarily by God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. de Gruchy rejects an individualistic, over-spiritualized, understanding of reconciliation as being something that happens only between God and an individual. He also warns against limiting reconciliation to individualized, interpersonal relationships. For de Gruchy, reconciliation is a "praxis" involving not only individuals, but also communities and societies. Reconciliation, in de Gruchy's view, can be confined neither to individual spirituality nor to a superficial or notional harmony. A Christian understanding of reconciliation connects sp irituality with relational and political realities, he says.
This book is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the history of Christian understandings of the concept of reconciliation drawing on biblical materials as well as summarizing the major theological traditions concerning reconciliation. He draws connections between the theological and the political, describing reconciliation as "an ongoing process to establish a community of love in which the conflict and injustice, though still present, are actively being addressed..." (76).
The second part of his book considers the role of Christians and the Christian church. He discusses how the Christian church was implicated in apartheid, as well as how the church was involved in efforts towards social transformation, justice and reconciliation in South Africa. His chapter on "Reconciliation and the House of Abraham" provides a comparative review of Christian, Jewish and Islamic perspectives on reconciliation. He suggests that while there are profound differences, these three Abrahamic religions have much in common which provide a foundation for interreligious dialogue.
Part three considers the processes of reconciliation, exploring the central role of truth, repentance and forgiveness. De Gruchy points out that victims of atrocities cannot be forced to forgive for the sake of cheap reconciliation. However, using examples from South Africa, he discusses the extraordinary reality, noted by other writers in the field of reconciliation, that it is often victims that take the initiative in seeking reconciliation. De Gruchy emphasizes commitments and action to eliminate structural injustice, including, in the South African example, the importance of measures such as land redistribution. Thus, the major thrust of de Gruchy's book is revealed in its title. Reconciliation, at its heart, is about the restoration of justice.
Lederach, John Paul. The Journey Toward Reconciliation. Scottdale, PA, and Waterloo, Ontario: Herald Press, 1999. 206 pages. ISBN 0-8361-9082-3
Review by Aron Tegenfeld
This book, an account of the author's personal journey in the field of reconciliation, offers valuable insights and lessons from one of the world's leading theorists and practitioners in the field of conflict transformation and peacebuilding. John Paul Lederach speaks of his own spiritual growth as a practitioner in this field, using stories, both personal and biblical, to explain some of the difficulties that arise when working on issues of conflict and reconciliation.
In Part 1, the author introduces a number of personal stories from his over 20 years of experience in settings such as Nicaragua, Somalia, Northern Ireland, the Basque provinces, and the Philippines. The role that Lederach's faith has played and developed in his work is a primary focus of this book, and through his eyes we see certain tools, techniques, strengths, and insights that have developed through his spiritual commitment to his work.
Part 2 introduces a number of biblical stories that relate to conflict and reconciliation, developing what the author refers to as "a biblically based theology of conflict." The author writes from an Anabaptist perspective, with that faith tradition as the primary audience for this book. He specifically looks at dealing with conflict within their churches and how spiritual growth can actually be shaped and encouraged through conflicts that are inherent to such organizations.
In Part 3, Lederach speaks as a practitioner, presenting some of the challenges of working in reconciliation, in order to prepare and assist readers for working in this field. A number of examples from a broader look at Christian peacemaking is provided, and various steps and techniques for approaching conflict and reconciliation are offered.
This book successfully connects the reader to the important role that reconciliation can play in many of our world's conflicts. The author focuses on faith and its connection to reconciliation in his own life in a way that will provide detailed support and guidance for many within the Christian faith. While the author's intent is to use this book to "engage in dialogue across faith traditions," readers from other faith traditions and/or secular perspectives may find it more difficult to receive the same messages as those who share the same faith background as the author.
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