78 research outputs found
Möglichkeiten und Grenzen
Transitional Justice steht fĂŒr BemĂŒhungen, die Vergangenheit eines gewaltsamen
Konflikts oder eines Regimes aufzuarbeiten, um in einer gespaltenen
Gesellschaft den Ăbergang zu Sicherheit und Frieden zu fördern. Vor dem
Hintergrund der steigenden PopularitÀt des Konzepts untersucht das
Arbeitspapier, ob die ihm zugrunde liegenden Normen und Instrumente in der Tat
uneingeschrÀnkt zu einer Verbesserung der Beziehungen zwischen den
Konfliktparteien beitragen. Im Zentrum der Analyse steht die Wirkung der
normativen Eckpfeiler Gerechtigkeit und Wahrheit, sowohl in konzeptioneller
als auch in praktischer Hinsicht, und es wird aufgezeigt, dass ihr Einfluss
auf Nachkriegsgesellschaften durchaus ambivalent und keineswegs zwingend
friedensfördernd ist. Basierend auf diesen ernĂŒchternden Einblicken schlieĂt
das Arbeitspapier mit dem Appell, Transitional Justice als ein politisches
Konzept zu betrachten und seiner Anwendung mit kritischer Achtsamkeit
gegenĂŒber zu stehen
Between past and future: an assessment of the transition from conflict to peace in post-genocide Rwanda
"The Rwandan genocide of 1994 was a prime example for the negative impact of manipulation and propaganda discourses which incited a large section of the Hutu population to kill approximately 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The project asked if and how today, more than a decade after the genocide, the antagonistic relationships between the parties to the conflict have changed and whether sustainable peace is possible in the future. The overall object of analysis was thus the process of conflict transformation in Rwanda. Against this backdrop, it analysed the impact of various peacebuilding discourses, leading to two objectives: objective 1: Development of a framework for the analysis of conflict transformation; objective 2: Assessment of the impact of peacebuilding discourses on conflict transformation in Rwanda. (...)" (author's abstract)"Der ruandische Genozid von 1994 war ein Paradebeispiel fĂŒr das Wirken von Manipulations- und Propagandadiskursen, die einen groĂen Teil der zivilen Hutubevölkerung zum Mord an ca. 800.000 Tutsi und moderaten Hutu aufstachelten. Das Forschungsprojekt untersuchte, ob und wie sich heute, ĂŒber ein Jahrzehnt nach dem Völkermord, die Beziehungen zwischen den Konfliktparteien Hutu und Tutsi verĂ€ndert haben und inwieweit diese VerĂ€nderungen sich als Schritte zur Entfeindung der beiden Volksgruppen erfassen lassen. Untersuchungsgegenstand war demnach der Stand der Friedenskonsolidierung in Ruanda. Zwei Ziele standen im Mittelpunkt des vorliegenden Projektes: Zielsetzung 1: Entwicklung einer Methode zur Analyse von Konflikttransformation; Zielsetzung 2: Empirische Untersuchung diskursiver Konflikttransformation am Beispiel Ruandas. (...)" (Autorenreferat
Introduction: Transitions from Violence. Analysing the Effects of Transitional Justice
Transitional justice refers to processes of dealing with the aftermath of violent conflicts and human rights abuses in order to provide for a peaceful future. It makes use of a number of instruments and mechanisms â including tribunals, truth commissions, memory work, and reparations â which aim at uncovering the truth about past crimes, putting past wrongs right, holding perpetrators accountable, vindicating the dignity of victim-survivors, and contributing to reconciliation. The objective of this focus section is to critically assess the potential of transitional justice, its achievements thus far, any conflicting goals, and the inherent or external obstacles that limit its influence and reach. Through empirical case studies from across the globe it paints a multi-faceted picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach
Between Past and Future : An Assessment of the Transition from Conflict to Peace in Post-genocide Rwanda
The Rwandan genocide of 1994 was a prime example for the negative impact of manipulation and propaganda discourses which incited a large section of the Hutu population to kill approximately 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The project asked if and how today, more than a decade after the genocide, the antagonistic relationships between the parties to the conflict have changed and whether sustainable peace is possible in the future. The overall object of analysis was thus the process of conflict transformation in Rwanda. Against this backdrop, it analysed the impact of various peacebuilding discourses, leading to two objectives:
Objective 1: Development of a framework for the analysis of conflict transformation
Even though peacebuilding has been central to peace and conflict studies for some time, the question of how the transformation from war to peace can be assessed is rarely ever asked, let alone discussed. The theoretical objective of the project was therefore to develop a framework for the evaluation of conflict transformation processes in post-conflict societies. To this end, the project took a lead from contemporary studies on the construction of enemies in discourse. It analysed if and how enmity can be âun-constructedâ, i.e.
reduced discursively.
Objective 2: Assessment of the impact of peacebuilding discourses on conflict transformation in Rwanda
In Rwanda in 1994, the impact of enmity discourses and hate speech made it possible for people to murder their own community members and sometimes even relatives. Against this backdrop, it can be assumed that discourses on inclusion, coexistence and reconciliation lead to the opposite effect of transforming the divided society so that sustainable peace becomes a possibility. The project examined to what extent this is the case in postgenocide Rwanda. It analysed various peacebuilding efforts by internal and external
agents in order to reveal what discourses about dealing with the past they promote, how these discourses impact on the relationship between Hutu and Tutsi and whether they lead to a long-term transformation of the conflict.
To this end Between Past and Future analysed the unification discourse of the Rwandan government, discourses about national commemorations and remembering, local discourses about the past, the national transitional justice discourse based on the village tribunals Gacaca as well as the role of the international community in shaping these processes. It concluded that rather than leading to conflict transformation many of the discourses produce and reproduce the antagonistic relationship, standing in the way of future peace and security. The following shall discuss each of these aspects in turn.Der ruandische Genozid von 1994 war ein Paradebeispiel fĂŒr das Wirken von Manipulations-und Propagandadiskursen, die einen groĂen Teil der zivilen Hutubevölkerung zum Mord an ca. 800.000 Tutsi und moderaten Hutu aufstachelten. Das Forschungsprojekt untersuchte, ob und wie sich heute, ĂŒber ein Jahrzehnt nach dem Völkermord, die Beziehungen zwischen den Konfliktparteien Hutu und Tutsi verĂ€ndert haben und inwieweit diese VerĂ€nderungen sich als Schritte zur Entfeindung der beiden Volksgruppen erfassen lassen. Untersuchungsgegenstand war demnach der Stand der Friedenskonsolidierung in Ruanda. Zwei Ziele standen im Mittelpunkt des vorliegenden Projektes:
Zielsetzung 1: Entwicklung einer Methode zur Analyse von Konflikttransformation
Obwohl Friedenskonsolidierung seit geraumer Zeit Gegenstand der Friedens- und Konfliktforschung ist, wird die Frage, mit Hilfe welcher Methoden die Transformation vom Krieg zum Frieden erfasst und eingeschĂ€tzt werden kann, kaum gestellt, geschweige denn erörtert. Das theoretische Ziel des Projekts war daher, einen Ansatz zur Evaluierung von Konflikttransformationsprozessen unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Friedenskonsolidierung in NachbĂŒrgerkriegsgesellschaften zu entwickeln. Zu diesem Zweck knĂŒpfte das Projekt an vorliegende Studien zur Konstruktion von Feindbildern an. Es untersuchte, inwieweit Feindbilder diskursiv abgebaut und womöglich sogar ins Positive gewendet werden und
wie die entsprechenden Transformationsprozesse erfasst werden können.
Zielsetzung 2: Empirische Untersuchung diskursiver Konflikttransformation am Beispiel Ruandas
In Ruanda haben Verfeindungsdiskurse es möglich gemacht, dass Nachbarn ihre Nachbarn und deren Kinder ermordeten. Theoretisch ist davon auszugehen, dass Versöhnungsdiskurse ebenso wirkmĂ€chtig sein können wie Verfeindungsdiskurse. Das Projekt untersuchte, wieweit die Verfeindungsdiskurse, die dem Genozid zugrunde lagen, in der Folgezeit in eine Transformation des Konflikts ĂŒberfĂŒhrt worden sind und welche Wirkung die diskursive Behandlung der Vergangenheit gezeitigt hat. Das Ziel bestand darin herauszufinden, ob und inwieweit die heutigen Diskurse ĂŒber die Vergangenheit und die Zukunft Ruandas die ursprĂŒnglichen Konfliktlinien zwischen Hutu und Tutsi aufbrechen oder reproduzieren.
Dies wurde anhand der Praktiken und Projekte einer Reihe von potentiell friedensbildenden Akteuren untersucht.
Between Past and Future analysierte daher den Vereinheitlichungsdiskurs der ruandischen Regierung, Diskurse ĂŒber nationale Gedenkveranstaltungen und Erinnern, örtliche Diskurse ĂŒber die Vergangenheit, die nationalen Transitional Justice Diskurse ĂŒber die Dorftribunale Gacaca sowie den Einfluss der internationalen Gemeinschaft auf diese Prozesse. Das Projekt zog den Schluss, dass die meisten Diskurse weniger zur Transformation des Konflikts als zu dessen Reproduktion beitragen und somit einem zukĂŒnftigen nachhaltigen Frieden im Wege stehen
Gendered Agency in (post-) conflict spaces. The engagement of Iraqi Women in NGOs
What role do women play in civil society in post-conflict Iraq, what kind of challenges do arise and how do they regard their own engagement relating to Iraqi society? Until now, research on Iraq post 2003 has focussed on the aftermath of war, processes of political institution building and democratization. International peacebuilding efforts in Iraq have been widely criticised by practitioners and academics. Without neglecting these critiques, I elaborate how external intervention has also created spaces for Iraqi women to exercise different forms of agency. Critical approaches in peace and conflict studies often limit so-called âlocalâ agency to resisting liberal agendas, assuming persistent binaries between local and international spaces. I seek to outline a concept of gendered agency that integrates a relational conceptualisation of space into the hitherto applied understandings of agency. Drawing on empirical evidence from Iraq, I elaborate how a relational theory of space contributes to grasping hybrid realities and notions of agency on the ground. Beyond analysing spaces of agency for women in (post-) conflict Iraq, I discuss the value of incorporating a relational understanding of space into critical peacebuilding studies
Essays on transforming security and development in an unequal world
These two papers add further dimensions to the discussions in IDS Bulletin 40.2
(March 2009) on âTransforming Security and Development in an Unequal Worldâ
edited by Robin Luckham, Niagalé Bagayoko, Lucia Dammert, Claudio Fuentes
and Michael Solis. Like the contributions to the latter, they were first discussed at
the founding Colloquium of the Global Consortium for Security Transformation
held at Kandalama, Sri Lanka in September 2007.
NiagalĂ© Bagayokoâs paper on âState, Non-State and Multilateral Logics of Action in
Post-Conflict Environmentsâ considers the complexities of Northern policymaking
and their impacts in post-conflict countries. It thus differs from but complements
IDS Bulletin 40.2, which focuses mostly on security and development from a
Southern perspective.
She argues that a number of different policy logics are at work in the security,
development, humanitarian and media etc domains, which are sometimes
coordinated â but often in tension with â each other. Her approach thus differs
from that of certain critical voices in the NGO and academic worlds, which hold
that there is a danger that Northern security priorities might âsecuritiseâ the
humanitarian and development agendas, particularly in post-conflict environments.
While these dangers are real, nevertheless one should not stereotype all
international actors as âNorthernâ or as promoting Northern security (e.g. anti-terrorist)
agendas. It is instead more fruitful to view such actors as diverse players
with conflicting interests that operate according to different policy logics.
Lyndsay McLean Hilkerâs paper on âWhy Identity Politics Matters for Security and
What Follows for Research and Policyâ spells out a general framework for analysis
of identity-based violent conflict, drawing upon empirical examples, including
Rwanda, where she has focused her own research. It is unique in its focus on the
implications of analysis and research on identity politics for development policy.
She contends that identity politics matter both to the persistence of insecurity and
to the achievement of greater security. Evidence from multiple contexts demonstrates that identity provides an effective basis for group mobilisation into
collective action â both violent and non-violent in nature. If we are to work to
combat insecurity at the local as well as the global level, we need to look in more
depth at the processes leading to violence in the name of identity in specific
contexts, and explore the types of interventions that can prevent and respond to
such violence. It is especially important to understand under what circumstances
identity politics can be exercised in ways that are inclusive and empowering rather
than exclusionary or violent.
Keywords: security; conflict; ethnicity; identities; post-conflict reconstruction;
humanitarianism; peace-building
Transition and justice:An introduction
Since the end of the Cold War, political new beginnings have increasingly been linked to questions of transitional justice. The contributions to this collection examine a series of cases from across the African continent where peaceful ânew beginningsâ have been declared after periods of violence and where transitional justice institutions played a role in defining justice and the new socio-political order. Three issues seem to be crucial to the understanding of transitional justice in the context of wider social debates on justice and political change: the problem of ânew beginningsâ, of finding a foundation for that which explicitly breaks with the past; the discrepancies between lofty promises and the messy realities of transitional justice in action; and the dialectic between logics of the exception and the ordinary, employed to legitimize or resist transitional justice mechanisms. These are the particular focus of this Introduction
A future without forgiveness: beyond reconciliation in transitional justice
This article questions the promotion of reconciliation in transitional justice contexts. The article puts forward a critique of reconciliation in practice and questions mainstream definitions of reconciliation. The principle that these forms of reconciliation are desirable is also questioned. It is argued that examples of genuine reconciliation are difficult to find, that the promotion of reconciliation is frequently emphasised at the expense of substantive societal change, that emphasis on reconciliation (narrowly defined) risks taking agency away from those affected by conflict and that emphasis on reconciliation may obscure injustice and may promote acceptance of the status quo. The article suggests that reconciliation is not a necessary condition of, and should be de-emphasised in, transitional justice and, if it is promoted at all, that a different, less prescriptive notion of reconciliation is necessary
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