Reconciliation and the Memory of Conflict in Asia

For most of human history in Asia, the end of military and civil conflict was followed only by a renegotiation of the balance of power between the antagonists, and by the division of spoils among the victors. In the 20th century, especially in the aftermath of the Second World War, policy-makers became aware that the terms of peace could have a powerful impact on the likelihood of return to conflict. Significant progress has been made in developing peace-making processes that undercut the original causes of conflict and which thus diminish the possibility that conflict will recur. Architectures of international cooperation and inter-dependence also work to diminish the possibility of war. The historical memory of conflict, however, has proven to be a serious and intractable obstacle to international harmony. The historical bitterness that afflicts Japan’s relations with Korea and China is greater now than at any time since the Second World War. Ancient antagonisms pit Cambodia against its two neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam. The memory of the massacre of communists in Indonesia 50 years ago looms as an issue in contemporary Indonesian politics. Meanwhile, formal and informal reconciliation processes in various countries of the region (including Korea, Cambodia and East Timor) have shed light on possible paths to preventing the legacies of bitter histories from causing ongoing conflict. This course will critically analyse the processes used in dealing with the past, as well as the prospects and challenges for cooperation and reconciliation.