ABSTRACT
A literature review and qualitative research of civil society's and state's dealing with interethnic and related political and intercultural conflicts in Serbia in the period 1990–2012 provided a basis for developing and operationalizing the empirical study on conflicts, victimization and justice in multi-ethnic communities in the border regions of Serbia as a preparatory phase for the action research. The empirical study was conducted in three multi-ethnic communities: Medvedja, Prijepolje, and Backa Palanka and Bac. This chapter presents the methodological approach of the action research, which consisted of two main parts: participatory seminars entitled 'From the conflict towards peaceful life in the community', which were implemented in the same multi-ethnic communities as the empirical study, and the participatory process of developing the 'Manual on best practices of applying restorative justice approaches in intercultural settings'. The chapter defines crucial elements of the restorative approach to conflict prevention and transformation applicable in intercultural settings.
