Public Policy Commons^™

Cultural Work In Addressing Conflicts And Violence In Traumatized Communities, Eugen Koh

New England Journal of Public Policy

There is a growing appreciation that conflict and violence in many communities have their origins in a history of traumatic experiences. Why this link exists and how it comes about is still unclear. We have no unified psychology of traumatized communities, and little is known about how to address these traumatic origins collectively in these communities. This article proposes a psychodynamic model of collective trauma and a psychoanalytically informed approach to working with traumatized communities to address their issues of conflict and violence. It highlights the impact of collective trauma on the culture of a community, which is its collective …

Preparing The Psychological Space For Peacemaking, Gabrielle Rifkind, Nita Yawanarajah

New England Journal of Public Policy

Peace processes fail for many reasons, but one of the critical factors is the state of mind of the participants around the peace table. Often the atmosphere is one of mistrust and suspicion: the traumatic effects of the conflict and the degree of suffering makes the parties likely to be more interested in retribution than accommodation. This state of mind keeps conflict parties rigidly and emotionally attached to their positions and often psychologically blocked from being able to engage productively in a peace process and achieve outcomes that meet their best interests.

This article proposes that to make conflict resolution …