Peacebuilding, Memory and Reconciliation

Chapter 12

Conclusion

Making “bottom-up” peacebuilding relevant

Geneviève Parent and Bruno Charbonneau

How can the study of the psychology of trauma, healing, and reconciliation inform peacebuilding, the ways in which peace can be built and imagined, and the type of peace that ought to be possible or impossible? This book suggests a few places where one could start looking, research strategies on how to start asking productive questions, and methods to start finding provocative answers that go beyond the problematic distinction between “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches.

The first two chapters interrogate the very distinction that is usually made between “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches. Patricia Maulden examines it through the standpoint ...