Post-Conflict Reconciliation

Arie Nadler, Professor Emeritus, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Israel

‘This extraordinary work represents an exemplary achievement in the study of reconciliation – a masterful synthesis that bridges evolutionary biology, philosophy, and social psychology to illuminate one of humanity's most pressing challenges. Professor Nadler has crafted not merely an academic treatise, but a profound exploration of how former adversaries can transform hate into hope, distrust into cooperation, and cycles of violence into pathways toward peace. Arie Nadler demonstrates that intergroup reconciliation is far more complex because it involves collective identities, historical narratives, and representatives apologizing for crimes they may not have personally committed. This distinction is crucial because what works between individuals often fails between groups, explaining why many well-intentioned reconciliation efforts founder. This book offers hope without naivety. Arie Nadler acknowledges that not all crimes are reconcilable – some wrongdoings are so extreme that they cannot be accepted as part of our shared world. Yet the book demonstrates that even in seemingly intractable conflicts, pathways to reconciliation exist when we understand the psychological processes involved and create appropriate conditions for their activation.’

• ContentsPreface viiIntroduction: Plan of book and social psychology of intergrouprelations ixPART I DEFINITIONS, ANIMAL RESEARCH, ANDPHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHESIntroduction to Part I1 What is this thing called reconciliation: Definitions ofreconciliation as an outcome and as a process 42 Post-conflict reconciliation in the animal world 243 Philosophical approaches to reconciliation: Hegel, Arendt,and Améry 34PART II SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES:INSTRUMENTAL AND SOCIO-EMOTIONAL POST-CONFLICT RECONCILIATIONIntroduction to Part II4 Instrumental reconciliation: Restoring positive relationsthrough intergroup contact 505 Socio-emotional reconciliation: The need-based approach 676 Collective victimhood and reconciliation 90PART III INTERGROUP RECONCILIATION IN THE REALWORLD AND CONCLUDING CHAPTERIntroduction to Part III7 Instrumental reconciliation: Building trustworthy relations 1118 Socio-emotional reconciliation: Truth commissions andpublic apologies 1219 Conclusions and remaining issues 141Epilogue 151References 154