Peacebuilding, Memory and Reconciliation: Bridging Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches

This book aims to bridge the gap between what are generally referred to as ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches to peacebuilding.

After the experience of a physical and psychological trauma, the period of individual healing and recovery is intertwined with political and social reconciliation. The prospects for social and political reconciliation are undermined when a ‘top-down’ approach is favoured over the ‘bottom-up strategy’- the prioritization of structural stability over societal well-being.

Peacebuilding, Memory and Reconciliation explores the inextricable link between psychological recovery and socio-political reconciliation, and the political issues that dominate this relationship. Through an examination of the construction of social narratives about or for peace, the text offers a new perspective on peacebuilding, which challenges and questions the very nature of the dichotomy between ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches.

This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, social psychology, political science and IR in general.

Bruno Charbonneau is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Laurentian University, Canada. He has a PhD in Political Studies.

Geneviève Parent is Assistant Professor in Conflict Studies at St Paul University, Canada, and has a PhD in Criminology.