ABSTRACT
In recent years, there has been a growing concern by theoreticians to increase their understanding of coexistence and reconciliation processes in interethnic struggles. Reconciliation is a rather new concept in studies of interethnic struggle (Bar-Tal 2000). It involves constructing peaceful, cooperative and trusting relations in a society after a long period of harsh intergroup conflict. Reconciliation processes are multifaceted and vary according to the future visions of peace held by the parties involved. Such visions can range from integration, as in the case of South Africa, to separation, as in the case of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict (Ross 2000a). In Central and Latin America, reconciliation efforts have been perceived as a prerequisite for the constitution of democratic regimes after long years of violent conflict (Hayner 1999; Kaye 1997). In general, reconciliation efforts are hard to achieve and, even when achieved, they have been criticized for imposing a hegemonic discourse of justice and healing within liberal and humanitarian practices, as in the case of the recent Rwandan Commission on Unity and National Reconciliation (Ranck 2000). Like ‘peace making’ and ‘coexistence’, which are widely and variably used (Kritz 1995), reconciliation has been conceptualized on a continuum advancing from weaker to stronger versions (Kriesberg 1998). Lederach (1998) emphasizes the transformative aspects of a version of reconciliation that first reframes perspectives of others, thereby allowing a renewed encounter between ‘we’ and ‘they’.
