Week 12: Peace & Reconcilliation

Question 1

What is negative peace?

Answer 1

Absence of direct violence and conflict where there is no threat or fear of violence.

Question 2

What is positive peace?

Answer 2

An absence of indirect structural violence, where there are institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies.

Question 3

What is retributive justice?

Answer 3

A unilateral assignment of punishment against the offender, where the suffering, humiliation, and degradation are key outcomes for the offender.

Question 4

What is restorative justice?

Answer 4

Achieving a consensus between the affected parties that leads to a shared understanding of the wrongdoing, harm caused, and how to repair these harms as a key outcome.

Question 5

What is reconciliation?

Answer 5

The healing and repairing of ingroup relations after a period of conflict and violence, it is crucial to sustain peace and aims to foster mutual trust, acceptance, and positive psychological change.

Question 6

What is the needs-based model of reconciliation for the victim group and the perpetrator group?

Answer 6

The victims agency is threatened, so it must be restored, leading to empowerment.

The perpetrators moral image and social appearance are skewed, so there must be a restoration of morality, leading to acceptance by the victim and society of the perpetrator.

Question 7

What is a criminal tribunal?

Answer 7

An investigation of those who have violated humans rights, focusing on prosecuting “the big fish” e.g., leaders of regime

Question 8

What are the two positive effects of a criminal tribunal?

Answer 8

• Hels satisfy victims needs for retributive justice, promoting reconciliation
• Positively linked to readiness for reconciliation

Question 9

What are the two negative complications of criminal tribunals?

Answer 9

• Reduces a sense of justice when ingroup perpetrator are punished
• May increase victims desire for retribution if sentences are lenient

Question 10

What did the study of Serb participants who read about criminal tribunals or impunity find in regards to treatment of offenders?

Answer 10

There was more need for retributive justice in the impunity condition, and less willingness to reconcile (vice versa for the tribunal condition)

Question 11

What is the Therapeutae effect of criminal tribunals?

Answer 11

It is improved psychological adjustment that reduces the sense of powerlessness; although effects may be temporary

Question 12

What is the re-traumatizing effect in regards to criminal tribunals?

Answer 12

Leads to higher depression/PTSD, in which witnesses can undergo psychological damage by being interrupted, treated intolerantly, and exposed to damaging materials again and again.

Question 13

What is a truth commission?

Answer 13

a temporary body that investigates human rights abuse, hoping for restorative justice and responsible for REVEALING and ACKNOWLEDGING truth while EMPHASISING reconciliation.

Question 14

What did the Case Studies of truth commissions in South Africa in 1996 find regarding the relationship between acceptance of the TRC and conciliatory attitudes among black and white South Africans.

Answer 14

There was a bilateral relationship between acceptance of the TRC’s truth and conciliatory attitudes among white South Africans, but NOT among black South Africans.

Question 15

What did the Case Studies of truth commissions in South Africa in 2003-2008 find regarding support for the TRC, amnesty approval, and support for criminal accountability?

Answer 15

In 2003 there was higher support for TRC, low support for amnesty approval and no support for criminal accountability. In 2008 there was medium support for TRC, lower approval for amnesty, and higher support for criminal accountability.

Question 16

What is an Apology in regards to war crimes and politics?

Answer 16

They are a restorative justice approach which are a speech act that is designed to promote reconciliation between two or more parties, in which different elements may address different needs of the victim.W

Question 17

What is the age of apaologies?

Answer 17

Where we have seen a dramatic increase of political apologies since WWII, especially after the 1980’s. (329 political apologies by 74 countries)

Question 18

What are the 5 elements of a political apology?

Answer 18

-Expression of remorse
- Acknowledgment of responsibility
- Admission of wrongdoing
- Promise of forbearance or “never again”
- Offers of repair

Question 19

What did the cross-national comparative study of political apologies find regarding what they contained and what they were missing?

Answer 19

Most real-world apologies across the world contained some elements of an ideal apology (i.e., expressions of remorse & acknowledgement of responsibility) but had lesser focus on victims or refuse to have explicit recognitions of what happened, and will instead be implicit (i.e., the Serbian declaration of “tragedy” not genocide)

Question 20

What are the 4 obstacles of a political apology?

Answer 20

• Apologies are so common they’ve lost significance
• Apologies from outgroup members are mistrusted
• Unsure if a people can be properly represented by their leader
• Collective apologies can be dispassionate and staged

Question 21

What did the study regarding participants reading Japan’s apology under the condition of “the age of apology” or an intergroup apology when looking at desire for an apology, and perceived remorse and forgiveness?

Answer 21

People expecting more apologies with lower perceived remorse and forgiveness in the age of apology condition, and vice versa for the intergroup apology condition

Question 22

How do you solve people mistrusting political apologies through a mistrustful lense?

Answer 22

You use a TRUST BROKER, who is a trusted member from within the victim group who reads the apology created by the transgressor.

Question 23

What did the study regarding forgiveness and trust of political apologies from a messenger using Canada and Afghanistan find?

Answer 23

That using a ingroup messenger from Canada lead to more forgiveness and trust than an outgroup member from Afghanistan.

Question 24

How do you solve people being unsure if a people can be properly represented by their leader who gives a political apology?

Answer 24

You can use grassroot apologies which are expressions of remorse that are issued directly by the community, which lead to more recognition of remorse and forgiveness.

They are typically independent of formal apology effects but can strengthen these effects.

Question 25

What are the two ways we can you solve Collective apologies being dispassionate and staged?

Answer 25

• Need to embody remorse
• May need to be behind closed doors

Question 26

What did the study regarding tears during collective apologies and remorse find among the general public?

Answer 26

There was more perceived remorse, and empathy for a tears condition, and more skepticism when there we less tears. Forgiveness and positive evaluations were not significantly different.

Question 27

Which type of apology (public or private) is most effect for specific group victims or diffuse victims?

Answer 27

Diffuse victims = Public

Specific groups = Private

Question 28

What are the two caveats to collective apologies?

Answer 28

• they are rarely sufficient for reconciliation
• People want rea action

Question 29

Why don’t peacebuilding efforts end after there is formal resolutions o a conflict?

Answer 29

Because Groups in post-conflict societies face fractured trust and cooperation between groups which is usually prolonged

Question 30

Why do peacebuilding efforts usually fail?

Answer 30

Because they do not understand realities of the country, and come from outside actors.

Question 31

Why is morality important in peace building interventions?

Answer 31

Because its the primary dimension we use to evaluate groups, and is important for understanding and moving on from conflicts.

Question 32

What are Moral Exemplars in Peace building interventions?

Answer 32

It is the learning about ingroup/outgroup morality in which there is a heroic/helper narrative challenging the dominant social representations of history which presents an alternative narrative, i.e., the Serbian guy who helped a Bosnian execution victim who fled to his garden.

Question 33

What are the psychological barriers overcome by using moral exemplars for the victim (2) and the perpetrator group (2).

Answer 33

• Essentially believe they ae evil
• Distrust perpetrators members
• Defensive reactions
• Moral image being impaired

Question 34

What are the two caveats to moral exemplars?

Answer 34

• May be misused as a license to commit ongoing immoral behavior.
• Can backfire if not promoted alongside justice needs