Reconciling Rwanda: Unity, nationality, and state control

Jennifer Melvin

    Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

    Abstract

    In the 1990s, a number of countries including Guatemala, El Salvador,
    and Bosnia and Herzegovina implemented conflict resolution mechanisms
    to confront legacies of past violence. This ‘paradigm shift’ away from the
    traditional judicial methods of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals sought to
    engage directly with personal experiences of those who were affected by mass
    human rights abuses and violations (Kritz, 1996, p. 128). Growing academic
    interest in this approach to conflict resolution is evident in literature about
    truth commissions and the concepts of unity and reconciliation more broadly.
    This volume contributes a case-specific analysis of the National Unity and
    Reconciliation Programme in post-conflict Rwanda to the broad sociological
    study of reconciliation and human rights.

    This book seeks to uncover and interpret how Rwanda’s official
    reconciliation programme functions in social and political practice. It utilises
    a social constructionist framework to provide a nuanced, theoretical and
    empirical understanding of how the stated commitments, power dynamics and
    political interests of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) government inform
    this programme. Moreover, this book critically analyses the National Unity and
    Reconciliation Programme according to its own internal logic, international
    human right standards, and the theory and practice of reconciliation as a
    peacemaking paradigm. Rwanda’s official programme is shaped by three
    major themes: justice; nation-building; and an interpretation of Rwandan
    history referred to in this work as the ‘victor’s narrative’. The volume examines
    how these themes reflect changing political interests and conceptions of
    unity, identity, and ‘national reconciliation’ as defined by the RPF. It argues
    that Rwanda’s National Unity and Reconciliation Programme is far from an
    exercise in equality and engagement in the legacies of past violence. Instead,
    it promotes a singular national identity secured by a distorted narrative of the
    past and ambitious vision of future development. As such, this programme
    is best understood as a nation-building and state-legitimisation project that
    bolsters the political control of the current RPF regime.
    Original languageEnglish
    PublisherInstitute of Commonwealth Studies
    ISBN (Electronic)978-1-912250-40-0
    ISBN (Print)978-0-9931102-0-7
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2015

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