Abstract

GARRIDO-RODRIGUEZ, Evelyn. Forgiveness in Reconciliation Processes : The Micropolitical Mechanism of Learning for Coexistence. Pap.polit. [online]. 2008, vol.13, n.1, pp.123-168. ISSN 0122-4409.

Forgiveness in reconciliation processes can be seen, from the Political Science, as a micropolitical process of learning that resolves the problem of coexistence after a certain period of violence. The process involves three cognitive steps: Reinterpretation of the violent past, humanization of the self and the other, and recognition of the other as a potential cooperator. These steps are experienced not only by the individuals (victims, wrongdoers and observers) but also they occur on the level of the shared mental models built by a certain society, and their existence is due to a group of enhancers or reducers of probability, which are given by political decisions or processes of institutional design. This leads us to the construction of an analytical framework of forgiveness that includes three dimensions: Individuals, Shared Mental Models and Political Institutions, which are synchronized with the three cognitive steps already presented before. This framework can be used as a tool for the study of forgiveness in reconciliation processes, as it is shown in this research, with the analysis of Argentina, El Salvador and South Africa.

Keywords : Forgiveness; Reconciliation; Micropolitics; Mental Models; Cognitive Processes; Procesos cognitivos; Conflict management.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )