BI ArticleSeminar 17: Unrightable Wrongs and Reconciling the Past
Unrightable wrongs have to be addressed in order to achieve reconciliation.
Parent (Previous) Guide Folders
Constructive Conflict Guide >
The Complex Factors That Make Intractable Conflict So Difficult >
Conflict "Overlay" Problems >
Conflicting Visions and Frames
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BI Article
Seminar 17: Unrightable Wrongs and Reconciling the Past
Unrightable wrongs have to be addressed in order to achieve reconciliation.
BI Article
Ebrahim Rasool on What America Might Learn From South Africa's 300+ Years of Struggle
A report on a talk by the former U.S. Ambassador from South Africa, on what the South African struggle for racial justice can teach Americans.
BI Article
Fighting Today's Oppression, Not Yesterday's Oppression
It is important that efforts to correct the record of past injustices not distract from or interfere with efforts to address ongoing injustice.
BI Article
Ethos of Conflict
A community's ethos is its shared beliefs, goals and identity. Communities in an intractable conflict expand that ethos to explain their approach to the conflict. A community's ethos strongly affects how destructive the conflict becomes.
BI Article
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice is justice that is not designed to punish the wrong-doer, but rather to restore the victim and the relationship to the way they were before the offense. Thus, restorative justice requires an apology from the offender, restitution for the victim, and forgiveness of the offender by the victim.
BI Article
Truth Commissions
Truth commissions are official groups endowed with the authority to extensively investigate the human rights abuses and war crimes committed in a specific country or region during a specified time period.
BI Article
Apology and Forgiveness
These are two sides of the mutli-faceted "diamond" of reconciliation. Both are necessary for true reconciliation to take place.
BI Article
Historical Facts
The saying, "history is written by the victor," refers to the fact that historical facts are often biased or inaccurate. Yet long-running conflicts are often based on these controversial "facts." This essay explores the impact of history on current conflicts.
BI Article
Rules and Rhythms of Reconciliation
This paper explores what happens when there is a disconnect between legal interpretations of "justice," and cultural definitions.
Subsidiary Folders
Retrospective Reconciliation
Unlike prospective reconciliation, which looks forward, retrospective reconciliation looks backwards, using a balanced strategy for coming to terms with past wrongs. Truth and reconciliation commissions, apologies, remediation, and forgiveness are usually aspects of retrospective reconciliation.
News and Opinion
What South Africa Can Teach the United States About Repairing a Divided Society
Another "if it exists it must be possible" story. South Africa can teach us much about how to live with deep divisions and a history of unrightable wrongs.
News and Opinion
I'm With Condoleezza Rice About White Guilt
A thoughtful essay exploring the relationship between "white guilt" over the unrightable wrongs of the past and the task of building a more equitable society.
News and Opinion
Coleman Hughes: My Testimony on Reparations
A critique of the case for reparations and a proposal for a more constructive way of dealing with the unrightable wrongs of the past and the many problems of the present.