ABSTRACT
Since the term “reconciliation” was introduced to the academic discourse of conflict studies by political developments, scholars from various fields have attempted to define the term, examine its nature, distinguish the reconciliation process from other processes such as conflict resolution or conflict settlement, and determine the requirements for such a process to take place between parties in conflict. One such field was social psychology—in particular, the social psychology of conflict and conflict resolution— but not solely. In this chapter, I will focus on the theoretical and empirical contributions of social psychological approaches, but I will also refer to related fields that have contributed to conflict studies in an effort to demonstrate the strengths and the limitations of such contributions to our understanding of reconciliation, both as a process and as a postconflict outcome.
