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After wars and dictatorships, it is not only the visible scars that remain. How can healing occur where it is most needed, and what are approaches that have worked so far? Our network the Global Learning Hub for Transitional Justice and Reconciliation reflects on experiences from different countries to promote transformative agendas in contexts of political transitions, social reconciliation and peacebuilding.

• Year 2025

This paper examines how exclusions, in regards to enfranchisement and land ownership that were essential components of the political settlement following the second Boer war, led directly to the armed resistance of the 1960s. The mutually damaging stalemate between the power contenders and the white government of the day triggered a period of preliminary talks and formal negotiations which resulted in a political settlement, finally codified in 1996. It examines the primary actors – the African National Congress and the National Party, but notes that these parties or movements also had allies and contrary groups. This settlement has lasted at least 18 years, or 20 years, if the interim arrangements which resulted in a democratic election are identified as the turning point. There are no obvious reasons to suggest a re-emergence of politically motivated conflict, however, warning signs suggest that the political settlement is fraying.

• Year 2015
• Author(s) Paul Graham

This paper highlights both the historical and the present condition of power contending forces, with a particular focus on marginalised societal groups and their mobilisation (or instrumentalisation) through the Maoist Insurgency. In addition, this paper seeks to portray the inclusive measures adopted since 2006 to make the State move representative of, and responsive to, the makeup of society. The study relies on secondary information as well as data collected through key informant interviews in three regions of Nepal.

• Year 2015
• Author(s) Balkrishna Mabuhang

Twenty-two years after the signature of the Peace Accords, the Front has the greatest share of power in the country: first, as a legal and legitimate party that can aspire to each and every one of the popularly elected positions from which it is possible to carry out the expected changes; and secondly, as the governing party – after winning the presidential elections for a second time and having obtained several mayorships, as well as ample and at times majority presence in the Legislative Assembly.

• Year 2015
• Author(s) Carlos Guillermo Ramos, Roberto Oswaldo López, Aída Carolina Quinteros

Mediation and constitutional processes are tasked with transforming the root causes of protracted societal conflicts, as well as redressing abuses of power and human suffering caused by conflict. This paper examines the most critical substantive or thematic issues which lie at the heart of both peacemaking and constitution-building endeavours: inclusive political governance; territory and power; security sector reform and governance; and transitional justice. The report then concludes by proposing a number of approaches and strategies to address some of these challenges, based on lessons learnt from past experiences and expert interviews.

• Year 2020
• Author(s) Véronique Dudouet, Sara Abbas, Charlotte Huch

In the context of an authoritarian regime, controlled by the military in alliance with a powerful landowning oligarchy, Salvadoran political-military organisations sprung up throughout the 1970s. Political and economic exclusion were the basis from which a wide popular movement arose – one that was to be almost immediately confronted with massive and indiscriminate repression. Faced with the closing of arenas for political participation, huge numbers of activists joined the ranks of the guerrilla army during the late 1970s. The five Salvadoran revolutionary organisations1 created the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, FMLN) in October 1980, with the joint aim of both procuring the government’s defeat as well as creating a socialist project.

• Year 2010
• Author(s) Alberto Martín Álvarez

Contrasts two familiar models of power: domination and cooperation. Arguing that the dominant concept of “power over” has given rise to a damaging global culture of militarism which blurs the line between pacification and peace, the author sketches a thought-provoking vision of how choosing instead to pursue “power with” could bring about a major paradigm shift. Drawing on real-life examples, she champions nonviolent assertiveness and asks: how much could “people power” achieve if it were taken as seriously as war now is?

• Year 2011
• Author(s) Diana Francis

In this Dialogue, practitioners and researchers reflect on the conditions of success or failure in peacebuilding and conflict transformation. The lead article expresses a lingering worry that complex economic and environmental crises, international factors of violence and war, and an underlying 'murkiness' of values may overwhelm the best efforts for social change and create a feeling that we are “just wasting our time”. The comments emphasize that values and approaches - as well as the international context, power politics and injustice - should be the objects of critical analysis. Investment in learning, honest self-reflection and critical peace research appear to be a must for effective practice. Others stress a need for more effective public mobilization for the effective prevention of violence. Many additional questions are raised and present food for thought for an ongoing debate.

• Year 2009

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) launched an armed insurrection movement, the People’s War, on February 13, 1996. Six years earlier, this Himalayan kingdom had experienced a major political change. In April 1990, after nearly thirty years of direct rule by an autocratic monarchy, the Nepali people re-established multi-party democracy with a constitutional monarchy through a street movement lasting 50 days. On the left, the political landscape was divided into various communist factions, which went through a major phase of restructuring, leading to the formation of the CPN (United Marxist-Leninist), the biggest communist party in Nepal, as well as the CPN (Unity Center) and the United People’s Front Nepal (UPFN), both of which were formed by more radical groups. In the first general election held after 1990, the Nepali Congress (NC) party gained a majority in the House of Representatives and formed a government, while the CPN (UML) and UPFN became the second and third largest parties. Following several years of intra-party debates, two radical factions of the CPN (Unity Center) and its open political front, the UPFN, led respectively by Prachanda and Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, formally changed their party name to the CPN (M) in March 1995, with the primary objective of launching an armed rebellion: the People’s War.

• Year 2008
• Author(s) Kiyoko Ogury

The civil war sparked by the assassination of President-elect Melchior Ndadaye in October 1993 pitted a variety of mostly Hutu rebel movements – principally the National Council for the Defence of Democracy and the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (identified by its French acronym, CNDD-FDD) – against Burundi’s regular army. The principal demands of the rebel groups were the return to constitutional law, the institution of democratic majority rule and, most especially, the reform of the Tutsi-dominated army that was viewed as the centre of power. The peace negotiations initiated in June 1998 in Arusha (Tanzania) led in August 2000 to a peace and reconciliation agreement without a ceasefire – mainly because of internal dissent within the main rebel groups and the virtual exclusion of the real belligerents from the negotiation table. Eventually, the ceasefire agreement signed in November 2003 between the CNDD-FDD of Pierre Nkurunziza and the Transitional Government led by President Domitien Ndayizeye enabled peace to return to most of the territory – with the exception of the zones where the remaining rebel group, the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People and National Forces of Liberation (PALIPEHUTU-FNL), which was hostile to any peace agreement with the government, continued to operate.

• Year 2012
• Author(s) Willy Peter Nindorera