Taylor and Francis Peacebuilding, Memory and Reconciliation

This book aims to bridge the gap between what are generally referred to as top-down and bottom-up approaches to peacebuilding. After the experience of a physical and psychological trauma, the period of individual healing and recovery is intertwined with political and social reconciliation. The prospects for social and political reconciliation are undermined when a top-down approach is favoured over the bottom-up strategy - the prioritization of structural stability over societal well-being. Peacebuilding, Memory and Reconciliation explores the inextricable link between psychological recovery and socio-political reconciliation, and the political issues that dominate this relationship. Through an examination of the construction of social narratives about or for peace, the text offers a new perspective on peacebuilding, which challenges and questions the very nature of the dichotomy between top-down and bottom-up approaches. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, social psychology, political science and IR in general.