CONFLICT, RECONCILIATION AND PEACE

Conflict, Reconciliation and Peace



Conflict, Reconciliation and Peace

Introduction

Reconciliation is a long-term process that includes the search for truth, justice, healing and forgiveness. It should be a broad and inclusive process that involves each member of a conflict affected society. In addition, the reconciliation process should be engendered because men and women experience war differently. In this regard, before we examine the nature of reconciliation we must acknowledge how conflict involves and affects women and men in different ways. Women are not only victims of war but capable and autonomous individuals who play an important role as peacemakers. However, at the end of the war, women frequently loose the gains they made during the war. In addition, women are rarely included in official peace negotiations where they could articulate their needs and concerns. Finally, third chapter will explore the aftermath of conflict and question the role of men and women in peace building and reconciliation. Do women and men have the same interests and concerns in reconciliation process? If they do not, why is that?

Gender and Militarism

The sense of “manhood” and being male is challenged and manipulated by the state in order to sustain authority and public legitimacy of the military. The state has to ensure that militarization prevails and that men are willing to serve the army and go to combat. Authorities have to “feed” the ego and social construction of men as a brave and strong. Men are made to believe that serving in the military is a “chance of a lifetime” because it will enable them to prove the socially constructed male attributes. In combat, they become warriors.

Furthermore, a soldier is portrayed as a warrior who “self-sacrificially” protects women, children and others who are “in need” of protection. It is very an important motivator for military recruitment. The concept of “protected” is crucial to the legitimacy of force and violence. Moreover, a protector needs to have an object of protection, something worth fighting for. When men are sent into war to protect their home and country, they are told to protect their womenfolk from defilement by enemy men. Women are usually perceived as objects who need protection but also create pressure and guilt in men if they have any doubt about war. In general, women are often seen solely as victims that men need to fight and even dying for.

Militarism is important during war but also during the peacetime. Hence, militarism is probably even more important before the war since war cannot be conducted unless militarism is nurtured before the war started. It is a form of structural violence imposed by the state, largely through mass rallies and state controlled media. However, for women who rather work towards common interests across conflict lines, it is harder to cast the enemy as “the other”. Their concerns about their children and family members give them a social legitimacy and a linkage with women from different sides of the ...