How do ordinary people from different regions around the world define peace and reconciliation? What factors do they think are necessary for promoting reconciliation between countries? Do they believe that individuals have a right to protest against war and in favor of peace? Do they believe that apologies can improve the chances of reconciliation? What do they think are the best ways for achieving peace? Does reasoning regarding the achievability of world peace vary by region? International Handbook of Peace and Reconciliation, a companion volume to the International Handbook on War, Torture, and Terrorism, examines and analyzes how people around the world think about justice, governmental apologies, the right to protest, the peace process, the justifiability of armed conflict, the possibility of world peace, and reconciliation. To address these questions, researchers from the Group on International Perspectives on Governmental Aggression and Peace (GIPGAP) administered the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Survey (PAIRTAPS) to volunteers from over 40 countries representing the major regions of the world. The volume is organized such that the responses to the survey are summarized and analyzed by both by country and by theme. Integrative chapters provide an up-to-date overview of historical and current events relevant to peace and reconciliation and a grounded theory analysis of definitions of peace and reconciliation and of the role of apology in reconciliation. In addition to describing the major themes emerging from the responses in each region, the volume reports on some exploratory analyses addressing the extent to which we found differences in patterns of responding based on characteristics such as gender, military experience, and involvement in anti-war protest activity. International Handbook on Peace and Reconciliation allows ordinary citizens from around the world to voice their views on peace and related issues, and examines the context of these views. Thus, it offers researchers in political science, peace psychology, social psychology, social justice, and anthropology a comprehensive resource for a changing global landscape.

War, Peace, and Reconciliation invites Christians and their churches into a dialogue regarding how to think about war from a standpoint rooted in faith. It asks how reconciliation, which is central to Christian life and doctrine, can engage with therealities of war without surrendering its fundamental affirmations. Theodore Weber defines these realities politically by discussing the meanings of power, peace as a particular organisation of power, and the international system. The study of war and politics is unavoidable, as is engagement with reconciliation, because all human activity exists in the context of the gracious work of God to renew and reconcile the fallen creation. Weber's inquiry is theocentric and christocentric. It culminates in a stirring call to churches to examine all their practices in the light of this perspective.

This edited volume examines a range of historical and contemporary episodes of reconciliation and anti-reconciliation in the aftermath of war. Reconciliation is a concept that resists easy definition. At the same time, it is almost invariably invoked as a goal of post-conflict reconstruction, peacebuilding and transitional justice. This book examines the considerable ambiguity and controversy surrounding the term and, crucially, asks what has reconciliation entailed historically? What can we learn from past episodes of reconciliation and anti-reconciliation? Taken together, the chapters in this volume adopt an interdisciplinary approach, focused on the question of how reconciliation has been enacted, performed and understood in particular historical episodes, and how that might contribute to our understanding of the concept and its practice. Rather than seek a universal definition, the book focuses on what makes each case of reconciliation unique, and highlights the specificity of reconciliation in individual contexts. This book will be of much interest to students of transitional justice, conflict resolution, human rights, history and International Relations.

"A well-written and interesting book that takes the reader through a wide literature on - as the title promises - peace, justice, and reconciliation and ties these themes together in a compelling way." --Stephen Crowley, Oberlin College. "Porter puts forward important and often complex topic in a straightforward and accessible way.... This book makes a major contribution to the IR literature in general, as well as to discussions of post-conflict transformation, DDR and its challenges, and human, including feminist, security." --Joyce P. Kaufman, Whittier College. Can post-conflict states achieve both peace and justice as they deal with a traumatic past? What role does reconciliation play in healing wounds, building trust, and rectifying injustices? This provocative book, incorporating the frameworks of both peace/conflict studies and transitional justice, explores the core challenges that war-torn states confront once the violence has ended. The book is organized around a series of questions, each one the subject of a chapter, with each chapter presenting a wide range of practical examples and case studies. The author also stakes out a position on each question, encouraging readers to evaluate and respond to ideas, practices, and strategies. Narratives are a notable feature of the work, with the human consequences of war and peace highlighted throughout. Elisabeth Porter is professor of politics and international relations at the University of South Australia. Her recent publications include Peace and Security: Implications for Women and Peacebuilding: Women in International Perspective.

Civil war and reconciliation - International war and reconciliation - Rethinking rationality in social theory - Implications for policy and practice and avenues for further research.

In Just and Unjust Peace, Daniel Philpott offers an innovative and hopeful response to these questions. He challenges the approach to peace-building that dominates the United Nations, western governments, and the human rights community. While he shares their commitments to human rights and democracy, Philpott argues that these values alone cannot redress the wounds caused by war, genocide, and dictatorship. Both justice and the effective restoration of political order call for a more holistic, restorative approach. Philpott answers that call by proposing a form of political reconciliation that is deeply rooted in three religious traditions--Christianity, Islam, and Judaism--as well as the restorative justice movement. These traditions offer the fullest expressions of the core concepts of justice, mercy, and peace. By adapting these ancient concepts to modern constitutional democracy and international norms, Philpott crafts an ethic that has widespread appeal and offers real hope for the restoration of justice in fractured communities. From the roots of these traditions, Philpott develops six practices--building just institutions and relations between states, acknowledgment, reparations, restorative punishment, apology and, most important, forgiveness--which he then applies to real cases, identifying how each practice redresses a unique set of wounds.

Sri Lanka, one of the most promising states in Asia following independence in 1948, has been torn apart for the past fifteen years by a vicious civil war. The majority Sinhala and minority Tamils have killed each other with increasing ferocity. The Tamils, who are primarily Hindu, fear losing their identity and being overwhelmed by the majority, who are Buddhist. The Sinhala, in turn, fear that the Tamils, with the backing of their ethnic kin in the Indian province of Tamil Nadu, will destabilize and take over control of the Sri Lankan government. Colonial-era rivalries and deep-rooted distrust fuel the tensions. What will bring about an end to this destructive conflict, and how will the island nation heal its physical and psychic wounds following a peace? How will a sustainable peace be arranged? Can mediation help? This book of essays by Sri Lankan and Western authors examines the causes of war and the possibilities for peace. Contributors are Chandra R. de Silva, Old Dominion University; Rohan Edrisinha, University of Colombo; Saman Kelegama, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka; David Little, United States Institute of Peace; Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, Columbia University; Teresita C. Schaffer, former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka; David Scott, Johns Hopkins University; Donald R. Snodgrass, Harvard Institute for International Development; Jayadeva Uyangoda, Sri Lanka Foundation; William Weisberg and Donna Hicks, Harvard University. A World Peace Foundation Book