Israeli Identity Thick Recognition And Conflict Transformation

The divisive and malleable nature of history is at its most palpable in situations of intractable conflict between nations or peoples. This book explores the significance of history in informing the relationship between warring parties through the concept of thick recognition and by exploring its relevance specifically in relation to Israel.

"This book focuses on the Israeli debates about New History, which took place mainly during the 1990s. The introduction of new interpretations of the 1948 War in the Israeli public sphere led to widespread controversy. Those debates, which initially concerned history, later on came to the forefront as strong actors became involved in intense arguments over fundamental issues of national identity and legitimacy. Through the addressing of those debates, the author raises questions regarding the meaning of history and identity in conflict-ridden societies. The notion of thick recognition is introduced and developed. It is suggested that it holds the possibility to transform relationships between protagonists in identity conflicts. Adopting a post-positivist approach, the author probes the role of inside actors and endogenous processes in conflict-ridden societies. The book hence challenges the broader field of conflict theory, which often has a focus on third party interventions together with elite negotiations. It is suggested that conflict theories must be sensitive to elaborations over recognition within settings of deep-seated conflicts. Only then can profound changes in the relationship between the conflict's protagonists take place, which can start a new era where the gridlock of intractability becomes dissolved."--Publisher's description.

The divisive and malleable nature of history is at its most palpable in situations of intractable conflict between nations or peoples. This book explores the significance of history in informing the relationship between warring parties through the concept of thick recognition and by exploring its relevance specifically in relation to Israel.

In Recognition as Key for Reconciliation the authors emphasize that in dangerous times it is essential for human beings to understand our interdependency on each other if we, our children and future generations are to survive and thrive.

This open access book discusses the impact of protracted peace processes on identities in conflict. It is concerned with how lingering peace processes affect, in the long-term, patterns of othering in protracted conflicts, and how this relates with enduring violence. Taking Israel and Palestine as a case study, the book traces different representations of success and failure of the protracted peace process, as well as its associated policies, narratives, norms and practices, to analyze its impact on identity and its contribution to the maintenance and/or transformation of the cultural component of violence. On the one hand, drawing from an interdisciplinary approach comprising International Relations (IR), History and Social Psychology, this book proposes an analytical framework for assessing the specificities of the construction of identities in protracted conflicts. It identifies dehumanization and practices of reconciliation in ongoing conflicts – what is called peace-less reconciliation – as the main elements influencing processes of othering and violence in this kind of conflicts. On the other hand, the book offers an empirical historical analysis on how the protracted peace process has impacted identity building and representations made of the ‘other’ in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the end of the 19th century to the present day.

Recognition is a basic human need, but it is not a panacea to all societal ills. This volume assembles contributions from International Relations, Political Theory and International Law in order to show that recognition is a gradual process and an ambiguous concept both in theory and political practice.

This collection recalibrates the study of political psychology through detailed and much needed analysis of the discipline's most important and hotly contested issues. It advances our understanding of the psychological mechanisms that drive political phenomena while showcasing a range of approaches in the study of these phenomena.

It is a commonly held assumption among cultural, social, and political psychologists that imagining the future of societies we live in has the potential to change how we think and act in the world. However little research has been devoted to whether this effect exists in collective imaginations, of social groups, communities and nations, for instance. This book explores the part that imagination and creativity play in the construction of collective futures, and the diversity of outlets in which these are presented, from fiction and cultural symbols to science and technology. The authors discuss this effect in social phenomena such as in intergroup conflict and social change, and focus on several cases studies to illustrate how the imagination of collective futures can guide social and political action. This book brings together theoretical and empirical contributions from cultural, social, and political psychology to offer insight into our constant (re)imagination of the societies in which we live.