Reconciliation without justice? Victims' rights and the challenges of imposed closure in Spain
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Alija-Fernandez, Rosa Ana and Martin-Ortega, Olga 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1779-0120
(2021)
Reconciliation without justice? Victims' rights and the challenges of imposed closure in Spain.
In: Kerr, Rachel, Redwood, Henry and Gow, James, (eds.)
Reconciliation after War: Historical Perspectives on Transitional Justice.
Routledge, pp. 272-294.
ISBN 978-0367346553
Abstract
When exploring what reconciliation means in a post-conflict society the first hurdle is to attempt to define it. There is no single accepted definition of reconciliation after conflict.1 It is both a vague and morally loaded concept,2 which encompasses a range of processes and mechanisms through which individuals and social groups interact after mass violence.3 Reconciliation means different things in different cultures, or even at different levels within a society or culture.4 At the individual level, reconciliation can occur, or not, as part of a wider process of social reconstruction of a community, which implies repairing intergroup relationships, transforming communities and eliminating social tensions.5 At a societal or group level reconciliation involves, as Stover and Weinstein have argued, the reconfiguration of identity, revisiting prior social roles, searching for a common identity, agreeing to unified memories (if not new foundational myths) and the development of collaborative relationships that allow for difference.6 Reconciliation is not a static concept and therefore what a society understands by reconciliation7 is open to change. As Rebekka Friedman has described in relation to what she terms procedural reconciliation, this is ‘a long term and ongoing process of setting out and consolidating common parameters through which actors and communities can articulate grievances and pursue distinct (and often competing) grievances and claims.’ As she highlights, despite this variability and open-endedness, what is important is the long-term cumulative consolidation of effects over time.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | reconciliation, transitional justice, war, war crimes, crimes against humanity, Spain, justice |
| Subjects: | K Law > K Law (General) |
| Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: | Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > Business, Human Rights and the Environment Research Group (BHRE) Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Law & Criminology (LAC) |
| Related URLs: | |
| Last Modified: | 29 Jun 2021 14:59 |
| URI: | http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/30853 |
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