Marcia Byrom Hartwell D.Phil. University of Oxford Queen Elizabeth House/ Refugee Studies Centre
[email protected] Perceptions of Justice, Identity, and Political Processes of Forgiveness and Revenge in early Post-Conflict Transitions In recent years there has been increased discussion regarding the role of forgiveness in post-conflict reconciliation. The most common debate has focused on whether there can be “reconciliation without forgiveness and/or forgiveness without reconciliation”. (Cairns and Roe eds, 2003, 132) Revenge, if mentioned within this discussion, has often been treated as a separate issue and as the antithesis of forgiveness and reconciliation. Though work on deconstructing the relationship between forgiveness and revenge in post-conflict transitions is still in the earliest stages, it has become increasingly clear from fieldwork interviews, conducted between 1999 to 2002 in Northern Ireland, Serbia, and South Africa, as well as observation and relevant research, that they appear to share similar phases or stages within an evolutionary process that can result in vastly different outcomes. In this analysis, reconciliation is viewed as both a short and long term process. In the short term, it is seen as a pragmatic cooperation between former enemies in rebuilding political, economic, and social institutions; in the long term, it is a process that encompasses multiple generations. During both, but most dramatically during the earliest phases, political actions and reactions are strongly influenced by an interaction between perceptions of justice interpreted in terms of fair or unfair treatment; formation of a victim/perpetrator identity; and personal and political processes of forgiveness and revenge.