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Graybill (mind and human interaction, U. of Virginia) provides students not only the facts about the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but also the broader context in which it operated. She asks whether it led to reconciliation and healing, what criteria were used to decide whether to pardon or punish, whether politics necessitated the compromise, and other questions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This book examines the ambiguous role that Christianity played in South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It has two objectives: to analyse the role Christianity played in the TRC and to highlight certain consequences that may be instructive to future international conflict resolution processes. Religion and conflict resolution is an area of significant importance. Ongoing conflicts involving Palestinians and Israelis, Muslims and Hindus, and even radical Islamic jihadists and Western countries have heightened the awareness of the potential power of religion to fuel conflict. Yet these religious traditions also promote peace and respect for others as key components in doing justice. Examining the potential role religion can play in generating peace and justice, specifically Christianity in South Africa's TRC, is of utmost importance as religiously inspired violence continues to occur. This book highlights the importance of accounting for religion in international conflict resolution.
The conflict in Ukraine has deep domestic roots. A third of the population, primarily in the East and South, regards its own Russian cultural identity as entirely compatible with a Ukrainian civic identity. The state’s reluctance to recognize this ethnos as a legitimate part of the modern Ukrainian nation, has created a tragic cycle that entangles Ukrainian politics. The Tragedy of Ukraine argues that in order to untangle the conflict within the Ukraine, it must be addressed on an emotional, as well as institutional level. It draws on Richard Ned Lebow’s ‘tragic vision of politics’ and on classical Greek tragedy to assist in understanding the persistence of this conflict. Classical Greek tragedy once served as a mechanism in Athenian society to heal deep social trauma and create more just institutions. The Tragedy of Ukraine reflects on the ways in which ancient Greek tragedy can help us rethink civic conflict and polarization, as well as model ways of healing deep social divisions.
In this groundbreaking study of post-conflict Sierra Leone, Lyn Graybill examines the ways in which both religion and local tradition supported restorative justice initiatives such as the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and village-level Fambul Tok ceremonies. Through her interviews with Christian and Muslim leaders of the Inter-Religious Council, Graybill uncovers a rich trove of perspectives about the meaning of reconciliation, the role of acknowledgment, and the significance of forgiveness. Through an abundance of polling data and her review of traditional practices among the various ethnic groups, Graybill also shows that these perspectives of religious leaders did not...
Reconciliation between political antagonists who went to war against each other is not a natural process. Hostility toward an enemy only slowly abates and the political resolution of a conflict is not necessarily followed by the immediate pacification of society and reconciliation among individuals. Under what conditions can a combatant be brought to understand the motivations of his enemies, consider them as equals, and develop a new relationship, going so far as to even forgive them? By comparing the experiences of veterans of the South African and Franco-Algerian conflicts, Laetitia Bucaille seeks to answer this question. She begins by putting the postconflict and postcolonial order that ...
This book argues that the idea of human rights is not exclusively religious, but that its realization in practice requires urgent action on the part of people of all faiths, and of none. Acknowledging the ambiguous moral legacy of their own tradition, Christianity, the authors draw on christological themes to draft blueprints for a culturally sensitive "theology of human rights."
Globalization has spawned more active transnational religious communities, creating a powerful force in world affairs. Religious Pluralism, Globalization and World Politics, an incisive new collection of essays, explores the patterns of cooperation and conflict that mark this new religious pluralism. Shifting religious identities have encouraged interreligious dialogue and greater political engagement around global challenges including international development, conflict resolution, transitional justice, and bioethics. At the same time, interreligious competition has contributed to political conflict and running controversy over the meaning and scope of religious freedom. In this volume, leading scholars from a variety of disciplines examine how the forces of religious pluralism and globalization are playing out on the world stage.
These days, politics often seem to be local and global simultaneously, challenging people, politicians, and scholars to sort out what is domestic from what is international and how the two are related. Janice Love demonstrates the complex realities of how local and global politics are intimately interwoven, sometimes inextricably so, specifically in southern Africa. In southern Africa, like many other regions, such linkages have existed for decades, if not centuries. Yet the current era is different from previous times when human communities found themselves closely intertwined. Love examines military, political, and economic changes in recent decades. Students of international relations, co...
This wide-ranging, insightful book will make readers keenly aware of the media’s power, while underscoring the role that we all play in fostering a media climate that cultivates a greater sense of humanity, cooperation, and fulfillment of human potential. What role do the media have in creating the conditions for atrocities such as occurred in Rwanda? Conversely, can the media be used to preserve democracy and safeguard the human rights of all citizens in a diverse society? How will the media, now global in scope, affect the fate of the planet itself? The author explores these intriguing questions and more in this in-depth examination of the media’s power to either help or harm. She begi...
Opportunities for sustainable peacebuilding are lost--and sustainable peace is at risk--when significant stakeholders in a society's future are excluded from efforts to heal the wounds of war and build a new society and a new state. Yet women are routinely marginalized, unnoticed, and underutilized in such efforts. "Defying Victimhood "uses comparative case studies and country studies from post-conflict contexts in different parts of world to produce insights for understanding women as both victims and peacebuilders. The book traces the road that women take from victimhood to empowerment and highlights the essential partnerships between women and children and how they contribute to survival and peace. Drawing particularly on African cases, the authors examine national and global efforts to right past wrongs as well as the roles of women in political and security institutions. They argue that for women in post-conflict societies, "defying victimhood" means being an activist, peacebuilder, and--above all--a full participant in post-war social, economic, political, and security structures, access to which all too often has unjustly and unwisely been denied.