The Politics of Apology and the Prospects for ‘Post-conflict’ Reconciliation: The Case of the Provisional Irish Republican Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
General Model ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Republican Movement ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation ◽  
Political Framing

Abstract This article analyses the Irish Provisional Republican movement and the evolution of its approach to the politics of apology. The first section analyses recent scholarship regarding ‘political apologies’, and provides a challenge to the existing literature, which concentrates upon ‘official’ or state apologies, rather than examples involving non-state armed groups (paramilitary or ‘terrorist’ organisations). This section argues that it remains difficult to discern an adequate general model for establishing criteria for a ‘successful’ or ‘sincere’ political apology involving such groups. The second section considers a number of case studies, including the statements of the IRA in 2002, and after the Enniskillen bombing in 1987. It is argued that the Provisional movement’s apologies have not generally proven helpful to its declared aim of post-conflict reconciliation. This article argues that attempted apologies or quasi-apologies by non-state groups may not ameliorate the sense of grievance experienced by victims/survivors, and may also serve to revivify social and political ‘framing battles’ over the past.

Chronicling a Blood-spattered Isle

2021 ◽  
pp. 55-111
Author(s):  
Oren Falk
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
General Model ◽  
Brute Force ◽  
The Past ◽  
Textual Source ◽  
Recording Process ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Authorial Intent ◽  
History Of

This chapter implements the general model of violence on case studies from the history of medieval Iceland, especially the Battle of Helgastaðir (1220) and other episodes from the life of Guðmundr Arason, Bishop of Hólar (r.1203–37). It also establishes how structural analysis of sagas—using the concepts of récit, histoire, and uchronia—nuances the picture of history reconstructed from such sources, tracing the transformation of occurrences (what happened) into events (experienced manifestations of meaning). Guðmundar saga A, the main textual source consulted here, demonstrates how uchronia, the ideology of the past, enabled texts to function autonomously of authorial intent: uchronic texts may reveal truths their authors were ignorant of, let alone truths they wished to suppress. By unpacking the ways brute force inflects both the historical social contests recorded in the saga and the narrative tensions of the recording process itself, this chapter highlights the necessity of examining violence in terms of a complex negotiation of power, signification, and risk. In the course of this investigation, various details of medieval Icelandic history are filled in, deepening and qualifying the general portrayal offered in the Introduction. Readers with little background in Icelandic history are familiarized with the contours of this history, while experts find some of its truisms (such as the categorical distinction between farmers and chieftains, or the supposed uniqueness of Iceland in high medieval Europe) re-examined

scholarly journals Antiquarianism: A Reinterpretation

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey Jackson Williams
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Breaking Work

Antiquarianism, the early modern study of the past, occupies a central role in modern studies of humanist and post-humanist scholarship. Its relationship to modern disciplines such as archaeology is widely acknowledged, and at least some antiquaries—such as John Aubrey, William Camden, and William Dugdale—are well-known to Anglophone historians. But what was antiquarianism and how can twenty-first century scholars begin to make sense of it? To answer these questions, the article begins with a survey of recent scholarship, outlining how our understanding of antiquarianism has developed since the ground-breaking work of Arnaldo Momigliano in the mid-twentieth century. It then explores the definition and scope of antiquarian practice through close attention to contemporaneous accounts and actors’ categories before turning to three case-studies of antiquaries in Denmark, Scotland, and England. By way of conclusion, it develops a series of propositions for reassessing our understanding of antiquarianism. It reaffirms antiquarianism’s central role in the learned culture of the early modern world and offers suggestions for avenues which might be taken in future research on the discipline.

scholarly journals Armed Group Transition from Rebel to Government

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Avis
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
War Termination ◽  
Negotiated Settlement ◽  
Protracted Conflict ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Peace Agreements ◽  
Conflict Settings ◽  
Post War

Governments and political parties with an armed history are not unusual, yet how these groups function during and after the transition from conflict has largely been ignored by the existing literature. Many former armed groups have assumed power in a variety of contexts. Whilst this process is often associated with brokered peace agreements that encourage former combatants to transform into political parties, mobilise voters, and ultimately stand for elections, this is not always the case. What is less clearly understood is how war termination by insurgent victory shapes patterns of post-war politics. This rapid literature review collates available evidence of transitions made by armed groups to government. The literature collated presents a mixed picture, with transitions mediated by an array of contextual factors that are location and group specific. Case studies are drawn from a range of contexts where armed groups have assumed some influence over government (these include those via negotiated settlement, victory and in contexts of ongoing protracted conflict). The review provides a series of readings and case studies that are of use in understanding how armed groups may transition in “post-conflict” settings.

Decolonizing Trauma with Frantz Fanon

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Goozee
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Frantz Fanon ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Universal Morality

Abstract Recent scholarship across a range of disciplines has critically engaged with the concept of trauma, interrogating its role in political processes such as commemoration, post-conflict reconciliation, and identity formation. Together this scholarship has called for a rethinking of trauma in order to more accurately represent the social and political dynamics of the concept. However, while offering insights into the politics of trauma, this literature remains distant from the concept's original discipline—psychiatry. This article contends that Frantz Fanon, as a psychiatrist and political revolutionary, presents a unique viewpoint from which to problematize the relationship between psychiatry and politics as it continues to structure trauma (and trauma scholarship) in the present day. Drawing on Fanon's sociogenic psychiatry, it argues that both Fanon and contemporary approaches to trauma are constrained by an exclusive, Eurocentric psychiatry. Subsequently, it contends that a rethinking of trauma is insufficient. Rather, a decolonization of psychiatry is required. Three themes in Fanon's practice—the universal, morality, and gender—demonstrate the necessity of engaging with psychiatry's positionality within the contemporary sociogenic principle. Here, international political sociology provides for an analysis of trauma attentive to the relationship between society, health, and power.

Engaging Diaspora in Reconciliation Efforts in Sri Lanka: Lessons Learnt

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Amjad Mohamed-Saleem
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Social And Cultural Capital ◽  
Engagement Strategies ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Lessons Learnt ◽  
The World ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation ◽  
National Framework

With nearly three million Sri Lankans living overseas, across the world, there is a significant role that can be played by this constituency in post-conflict reconciliation.  This paper will highlight the lessons learnt from a process facilitated by International Alert (IA) and led by the author, working to engage proactively with the diaspora on post-conflict reconciliation in Sri Lanka.  The paper shows that for any sustainable impact, it is also critical that opportunities are provided to diaspora members representing the different communities of the country to interact and develop horizontal relations, whilst also ensuring positive vertical relations with the state. The foundation of such effective engagement strategies is trust-building. Instilling trust and gaining confidence involves the integration of the diaspora into the national framework for development and reconciliation. This will allow them to share their human, social and cultural capital, as well as to foster economic growth by bridging their countries of residence and origin.

Trail-Blazer Dependency – A Roadmap for the Sustainability Revolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-337
Author(s):  
Jan Kunnas
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Pulp And Paper ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Electric Car ◽  
Major Benefit ◽  
Quality Movement

While geologists are still considering whether the Anthropocene should be accepted as a formal geological epoch, it is up to us humanists to search for ways making this human era a good one. In this article, I will examine how we can use historical research to provide such tracks based on past regularities or similarities. Positive success stories from the past can at least provide faith that we can do something about our current environmental problems. This investigation is based on two case studies: the Tesla Model S electric car, and the Swedish pulp and paper industry's transition to chlorine-free bleaching. It argues that the sustainability revolution doesn't just share similarities with the quality movement of the 1970s and 1980s, but is essentially a continuation of it. In concordance with previous megatrends, the major benefit of the sustainability revolution will be reaped by countries and companies running ahead of the curve. A new term, 'trail-blazer dependency' is introduced; by setting an example, the first-movers are opening a trail for late-comers to follow.

Words as Weapons

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Connal Parr
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Culture Wars ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Literary Heritage ◽  
Republican Movement ◽  
Artistic Merit

‘Culture wars’ in Northern Ireland are literary and rest upon the misperception—and political claim—that Ulster Protestants lack a culture aside from Orangeism. Unionist politicians and Republican writers have accordingly cultivated the myth that Ulster Protestants lack literary heritage and have never been involved in the theatre. The community has internalized a post-conflict ‘defeatism’ and a conviction that it has produced little or nothing of artistic merit. This has been fortified by the individualist, splintered nature of the Protestant community as opposed to the more cohesive and communally robust Catholic equivalent. The Republican movement and its associated writers mainly view literature as an arm of the struggle, which is shown to be important in bringing about an end to conflict, but has led to a derogation of working-class Protestants. The chapter also considers Ulster Loyalist engagement with poetry and drama.

Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation: An Under-Explored Relationship

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Natalya Clark
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation

AbstractMuch of the literature on transitional justice suffers from a critical impact gap, which scholars are only now beginning to address. One particular manifestation of this aforementioned gap, and one which forms the particular focus of this article, is the frequently-cited yet empirically under-researched claim that "truth" fosters post-conflict reconciliation. Theoretically and empirically critiquing this argument, this article both questions the comprehensiveness of truth established through criminal trials and truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) and underscores the often overlooked problem of denial, thus raising fundamental questions about the reputed healing properties of truth in such contexts. Advocating the case for evidence-based transitional justice, it reflects upon empirical research on South Africa's TRC and the author's own work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Anti-Catholicism in Germany, Britain, and the United States: A Review and Critique of Recent Scholarship

2001 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjule Anne Drury
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Irish Question ◽  
Political Economic

The past two decades have seen an efflorescence of works exploring cultural anti-Catholicism in a variety of national contexts. But so far, historians have engaged in little comparative analysis. This article is a first step, examining recent historical literature on modern British and American anti-Catholicism, in order to trace the similarities and distinctiveness of the turn-of-the-century German case. Historians are most likely to be acquainted with American nativism, the German Kulturkampf, continental anticlericalism, and the problems of Catholic Emancipation and the Irish Question in Britain. Many of the themes and functions of anti-Catholic discourse in the West transcended national and temporal boundaries. In each case, the conceptualization of a Catholic ‘other’ is a testament to the tenacity of confessionalism in an age formerly characterized as one of inexorable secularization. Contemporary observers often agreed that religious culture—like history, race, ethnicity, geography, and local custom—played a role in the self-evident distinctiveness of peoples and nations, in their political forms, economic performance, and intellectual and artistic contributions. We will see how confessionalism remained a lens through which intellectuals and ordinary citizens, whether attached or estranged from religious commitments, viewed political, economic, and cultural change.

Displacement and ethnic reintegration in Ituri, DR Congo: challenges ahead

2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Pottier
Keyword(s):  
Local Context ◽  
Dr Congo ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Complex Emergency ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
Contested Terrain

ABSTRACTThis article examines the ethnic character of Ituri's complex emergency. It considers the local context in which the IDP predicament has unfolded, asking questions about the prospect of, and responsibilities for, post-conflict reintegration. As militia disarmament and peace are linked but not coterminous, it is argued that militant ethnic agendas at the core of the conflict must be scrutinised for their ongoing significance. Revealing the past to be a contested terrain, these agendas call for an apartheid-style solution along lines of segregation first envisaged by Belgian colonialists. To move towards ethnic reintegration, Iturians face the challenge that they must create a common history freed from the stranglehold of extremist interpretations.

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