W. Bole, D. Christiansen, R.T. Hennemeyer, Forgiveness in International Politics ... an Alternative Road to Peace.

Kerber, Guillermo

W. Bole, D. Christiansen, R.T. Hennemeyer, Forgiveness in International Politics ... an Alternative Road to Peace, Washington DC, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2004, 208pp., US $19.95.

Is forgiveness a realistic possibility in today's international political context? What are the conditions for social and political forgiveness? Have there been any concrete experiences of forgiveness in international politics? These are some of the questions this book tries to answer. The book will provide a relevant insight to all those interested in deepening on the possibilities of forgiveness at international politics.

Bole, Christiansen and Hennemeyer wrote this book as a result of a series of colloquia held at the Woodstock Theological Centre, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA, and a working group which continued the reflection for seven years. The book aims at gleaning lessons relating to forgiveness from and for the field of conflict-resolution and peace-building.

The authors' reflections are based on philosophical, theological and political considerations as well as on lessons learned from concrete situations, for example South Africa, the Balkans and Northern Ireland. While stressing the importance of forgiveness, the authors pay special attention to other aspects such as truth-telling, justice, the healing of memories and victims' rights.

Forgiveness is seen and developed as a process and not as an event. One of the main purposes of the book is to install the discussion on forgiveness in the international arena and to recall the religious commitment to forgiveness.

The authors analyze the implications of forgiveness by trying to address the two-track theory of international conflict resolution: track I being the realm of nation-state negotiations and the interactions of official diplomats and track II the terrain of civil society, mediating institutions and non-governmental organizations. Track II is where forgiveness makes its entrance as a political possibility, but the authors make a strong call to include forgiveness also in track I. In this perspective, forgiveness should be seen as part of a larger notion of security that includes the building of trust and relationships across dangerously divisive political lines.

After having stated the causes of unforgiveness, among them cycles of revenge, distorted memories, victimhood and institutional breakdown (chapter 1), the authors try to respond why forgiveness has become a strategic value in conflict-resolution by theorists and practitioners (chapter 2). Chapter 3 unfolds a definition of forgiveness in politics proposed by Donald Shriver in his book An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics. Shriver stated that forgiveness joins moral truth, forbearance from revenge, empathy and commitment to repair a fractured human relationship. The authors develop each of these aspects of forgiveness in politics. Concrete manifestations of political forgiveness such as truth commissions and "facilitated small groups" are analyzed in chapter 4, mainly bringing in the experiences of South Africa, Chile and the Balkans. The following chapters relate forgiveness, religion and politics. Chapter 6 develops the challenges to religious communities in building a new space for forgiveness in the political arena. The role of faith-based NGOs in helping to mine the peace-building assets of organized religions is analyzed in chapter 7 while the last chapter focuses on some basic affirmations regarding religion and culture addressing peace-builders and policy-makers.

A conclusion highlights lessons learned through the different chapters of the book. These include the importance of a serious effort to establish historical truth and to disseminate it widely in society; the relevance of memory, especially in ethnic and other clashes of group identity; the difference between political forgiveness and general amnesty; the freedom of victims to forgive; the affirmation that forgiveness may include punishment for the sake of the society rejecting a notion of justice as reduced simply to punishment; the caution against an instantaneous forgiveness which may be too quick or superficial; the role of third-party facilitators; the conditions for atmospheres or cultures of forgiveness at the societal and interpersonal levels; the constructive role religious communities can play even when they are co-opted and corrupted.

An appendix on "some organizational resources" is also included, where twenty institutions working on forgiveness are introduced. Though the sample does not pretend to be complete, it only refers to organizations from some English speaking countries, with 17 coming from the United States and only three from outside the US.

The book builds upon the changing nature of conflicts in the post cold-war period but as it is acknowledged in the introduction, there is hardly any reference to the impact of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US and its aftermath "war on terror" on issues such as forgiveness and reconciliation. In the book, the relationship between these two concepts, forgiveness and reconciliation, is presented in the following way: forgiveness is seen as a process, a set of inter-related conditions and components towards reconciliation. Taking into account other theories on reconciliation, which have been developed without a specific mention of forgiveness as a condition, much more reflection is needed to deepen the interdependence between these two notions, taking into account, as the authors state, that forgiveness is a radical new factor in international politics.

Guillermo Kerber is programme executive for Impunity, Justice and Reconciliation in the International Affairs, Peace and Human Security team of the World Council of Churches.