Reintegration and Reconciliation in the Wake of Islamist Armed Conflicts

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

How can reconciliation be achieved in the face of violent Islamist extremism? Take-overs by Islamist extremists in recent years have resulted in the displacement of large populations who are now in need of rehabilitation, reintegration, and reconciliation. This panel broadly seeks to answer two interrelated questions: 1) what microfoundational dynamics are involved in reintegration and reconciliation processes in the wake of violent Islamist conflicts?; and 2) in such settings, how can a return to violent Islamist extremism be avoided? A greater understanding of these questions will help strengthen the growing number of societies affected by violent Islamic extremism and contribute policy prescriptions for durable peace.

The papers on this panel seek to understand how displaced individuals who have been rightly or wrongly associated with violent Islamism can be reintegrated into very different populations. A study by Kao, Fabbe, and Petersen comes from Iraq, a post-Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) setting where tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) face stigmatization. The study recognizes dual-sided processes of reconciliation as willingness to reintegrate and forgive on the one hand versus desire for revenge on the other. It finds that past collaborative acts with ISIS are largely irredeemable in the eyes of Iraqi citizens due to moral condemnation and future heuristics of societal benefit from reintegration. Two additional works consider the role of in- versus out-group identities. Examining elites rather than regular citizens, Butt’s work in post-Taliban Afghanistan underscores how in- versus out-group ethnic identity politics are particularly important in shaping political reintegration of accused Islamist collaborators. It suggests that while collaboration drives down support for candidates, the effect is muted for co-ethnics. Hall and Rogall contribute additional insights by considering attitudes among refugees victimized by ISIS. Their findings reveal that shared in-group identity with a perpetrator is linked with preferences for more restorative justice mechanisms and forgiveness, yet attribution of blame for victimization plays an important role. Employing surveys in Western Europe, work by Dyrstad and Godefroidt finds that informational campaigns conveying remorse on the part of suspected ISlS collaborators and safety precautions should their return be allowed increases willingness to allow for reintegration. In line with the findings of Kao, Fabbe, and Petersen in Iraq, younger persons are deemed more forgivable. Finally, studying IDPs in Somalia, Gilligan, Khadka, and Vining seek to understand if different types of interventions can facilitate reconciliation and prevent radicalization in the future.

Most of the existing research on post-conflict reconciliation does not focus on Islamist conflicts, which may miss important and unique effects of religious ideology in play. Further, the literature tends to interrogate attitudes towards transitional justice policies constructed by ruling elites at the national level; rarely are the microfoundations of reconciliation examined even though it is at the micro-level that decisions to reconcile or seek revenge take place. Individual citizens are arguably the most important actors when it comes to post-conflict reintegration and reconciliation, but how they react to displaced persons associated with conflict is far from obvious. Thus, understanding the process by which regular citizens evaluate and respond to these stigmatized displaced persons is a critical part of ensuring post-conflict peace. Offering a fresh set of empirical tests and theoretical arguments across very different contexts (Iraq, Afghanistan, Western Europe, and Somalia), this panel greatly nuances our understanding of reconciliation in the wake of Islamist conflicts.

Sub Unit

• Division 21: Conflict Processes

Individual Presentations

• The Irredeemability of the Past: Determinants of Reconciliation and Revenge - Kristen Kao, University of Gothenburg; Kristin E. Fabbe, European University Institute; Michael Bang Petersen, University of Aarhus

• Voting for Former Collaborators of Insurgent Groups - Narmin Butt, University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

• War Exposure, Perpetrator Identity and Attitudes towards Transitional Justice - Jonathan Hall, Uppsala University; Thorsten Rogall, UBC

• Repatriating ISIS Collaborators and Children: Attitudes and Narratives - Amélie Godefroidt, KU Leuven; Karin Dyrstad, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

• Nonviolence and Civic Education among IDPs in Somalia - Michael J. Gilligan, New York University; Prabin Khadka, University of Essex; Peter B. Vining, Naval Postgraduate School

Chair

• Austin Knuppe Utah State University

Discussants

• Sarah Zukerman Daly Columbia University

• Mara Revkin Duke University