ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the conceptual terrain that contributes to work on reconciliation. In recent decades, reconciliation has become a commonplace term expressing a regulative ideal in political discourse. High profile processes such as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) have tended to narrow and dominate the field, receiving an unwarranted level of investigation in relation to other conflict transformation efforts. Much research has attempted to further narrow and define the concept of reconciliation in an effort to 'boil it down' to an agreed policy framework. Indeed, the formal Australian reconciliation process was widely criticised for its 'intense resistance' to any decolonizing action, meaning that ' 'education' for the non-indigenous rather than 'justice' for the indigenous emerged as the dominant focus of the process'. The goals of reconciliation are expressed in a vast body of literature from both scholars and practitioners, much of which emphasizes ideas of unity and shared aspirations.
