Kevin Avruch

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions: Problems in Transitional Justice and the Reconstruction of Identity

This article considers some of the main features of so-called truth and reconciliation commissions, their history and structure and their characteristic concerns with respect to their central dilemmas, including: how they grapple with notions of truth, justice, liability, reconciliation, apology and forgiveness, and how they address the need to support the “reconstruction” of selves and identities in the wake of massive trauma and collective violence. A particular concern is with how such commissions or related tribunals engender what can be called a “one-to-many” dynamic, in which they try to effect social reconciliation while focusing attention, via testimony and story-telling, on the traumas and suffering of individual victims.

American immigrants in Israel : social identities and change

Subject classification:- Religion: Judaism; Anthropology: Cultural and Social; Sociology: General

Culture, Apology, and International Negotiation: The Case of the Sino-U.S. ‘Spy Plane’ Crisis

This article traces the course of the Sino-U.S. negotiation in April 2001, to resolve the crisis following the collision of a U.S. surveillance aircraft with a Chinese fighter jet off of Chinas coast and the subsequent unauthorized emergency landing of the U.S. plane at a Chinese airfield on Hainan Island. The negotiation focused on the Chinese demand for a full apology from the United States and the U.S. resistance to this demand. The article examines the role that culture, particularly linguistic differences, played in the course of the negotiation and its eventual resolution.

Culture, Power and International Negotiations: Understanding Palau-US Status Negotiations

Not even one-tenth of the way into his magisterial, and never self-wounding, recounting of his years as Richard Nixon’s national security advisor, Henry Kissinger recalls his first visit (in that capacity) to Italy: ‘I have always loved the stark beauty of the country and extraordinary humanity of its people.’ He goes on: But every visit confirmed that Italy followed different political laws and had a different concept of the role of the state from that of the rest of Western Europe. Perhaps Italians were too civilized, too imbued with the worth of the individual to make the total commitment to political goals that for over a century and a half had driven the rivalries and ambitions of the other countries of Europe.

Making culture, and its costs

Richard G. Fox (ed.), NATIONALIST IDEOLOGIES AND THE PRODUCTION OF NATIONAL CULTURES, Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association, 1990, 177 pp., including chapter references,

Towards the Fourth Wave of Conflict Resolution Practice

17.00 (non‐members),

Peace through Economic Opportunity, Cross-Cultural Understanding and Public-Private Partnership: A Case Study of the Irish Peace Process Cultural Training Programme

13.50 (members), paper. Walter Zenner, MINORITIES IN THE MIDDLE: A CROSS‐CULTURAL ANALYSIS, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991, xv + 224 pp., including bibliographic notes and index,

Culture and Conflict Resolution

16.95, paper.

Conflict resolution : cross-cultural perspectives

This reflection chapter begins with a brief history of the events that have driven theory development in the field of conflict resolution, as well as the author’s own evolution and process in taking a leadership role in identifying the necessity of cultural consideration in conflict resolution. The four waves proposed in this book are discussed, particularly the fourth wave, which is the context of the projects in these chapters. Finally, the bigger picture is examined in terms of themes drawn from the chapters, including building power and empowerment, “cultures” of mediation, roles of mediators, tension between harmony and justice and general lessons learned. The chapter ends with a discussion of hybridity in the field, both past and present.

THE CULTURE QUESTION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION

In support of the Irish Peace Process, the Walsh Visa Programme provided job and training opportunities in the United States for unemployed youths from Northern Ireland and designated border counties of the Republic of Ireland. The premise was that unemployed youth from all sides of the sectarian divide could benefit from the experience of peaceful coexistence through living and working in a multicultural society and return home better able to contribute to their economy and sustainable peace. More than a thousand participants were involved in the programme over 10 years. This article summarises the programmes challenges, achievements and lessons learned through the lens of economic development and justice, reconciliation, and public-private partnerships.