Partners and Networks

The International Association for Reconciliation Studies (IARS) aims at building bridges and promoting a dialogue across different approached to reconciliation to verify and further develop the understanding of reconciliation, explore the variability and commonality in reconciliation processes, and endorse varied approaches to reconciliation. It recognizes that reconciliation processes play a major role in building long-lasting peace within and across boundaries, restoring and transforming relationships in the aftermath of conflict, and disrupting cycles of violence.

The members of the IARS share a vision that reconciliation is much more than a cessation of violence and hostilities. It requires the participation of the parties involved in the conflict to come together to redefine their relationship and create an environment where cooperation and peaceful coexistence are the operative norms within society.

The International Association for Reconciliation Studies concentrates on reconciliation in divided societies and between nations accruing on interpersonal, intergroup, and international levels and promotes complex, theory-based, indigenous, and faith-based approaches that address justice, reparations, mercy, apology, forgiveness, and shared identity. To advance the design and implementation of reconciliation processes, the IARS searches for various social conditions for the imagination and achievement of reconciliation, advancing theory and bridging it with practice.

We also expect that the International Association for Reconciliation Studies will help to understand and improve international relations by going beyond the conventionally fundamental factors of politics, power, interest, and international law. We hope it will then underline the role of human’s memories, emotions, values, and morality in mobilizing people for conflicts or reconciliations, in strengthening civilian networks to sustain human rights, and in contributing to mutual respect between nations in the age of globalization and democratization.

Our hope is that our collective approach to reconciliation studies will create a basis for cooperative cultural and educational policy toward a common citizenship around the globe, which would be the next immediate step for a shared approach to such global issues, such as environment, infectious disease, and poverty.

The Academic Alliance for Reconciliation Studies in the Middle East and Northern Africa (AARMENA) is an alliance of universities and other higher educational institutions, scholars, and academics willing to do joint research and build up teaching programs and curriculums in Reconciliation Studies as multi-inter-disciplinary research. Alternatively, to integrate the new curriculums into their academic programs through program courses and development of master degrees, in their educational institutions.

AARMENA is initiating the means to strengthen ties between higher education institutions in Europe and the higher education institutions in the Islamic MENA Region and to fostering of academic reconciliation studies programs that will enhance cultural dialogue orientations in teaching programs on reconciliation studies, interactively benefiting scholars, students, and young academics from Europe and partner countries in the Islamic MENA region. 

AARMENA would exploit research and teaching programs on reconciliation studies through exchanging scholarly work between academics by stimulating:

1. Strengthening university cooperation by doing an event that corresponds to signing the memorandum of understanding between universities;
2. Doing local and international workshops on reconciliation studies between professors and new academics in the field;
3. Developing a joint symposium, summers school, curriculum on reconciliation studies;
4. Integrating courses in the teaching programs of the program countries;
5. Joint publications and a new perspective to develop joint research.

The programs would influence the integration of those teaching programs within the academic programs in the partner higher education insinuations in the partner country. The academic universities and institutions that are part of AARMENA enhance cooperation and dialogue within academic institutions on building reconciliation studies programs and dialogue culture in reconciliation studies within higher education institutions in the MENA region.

The following universities are members of the AARMENA-2018 project:

• UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies, Innsbruck UniversityExternal link (Innsbruck, Austria);
• Assuit UniversityExternal link (Assiut, Egypt);
• Fayoum University External link(Fayoum, Egypt);
• Tanta UniversityExternal link (Tanta, Egypt);
• Europa-UniversitätExternal link (Flensburg, Germany);
• Jena Center for Reconciliation Studies JCRS, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Jena, Germany);
• German Jordanian University External link(Amman, Jordan);
• Petra UniversityExternal link (Amman, Jordan);
• University of JordanExternal link (Amman, Jordan);
• Notre Dame UniversityExternal link (Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon);
• Saint Joseph UniversityExternal link (Beirut, Lebanon);
• University of GroningenExternal link (Groningen, Netherlands);
• Al Istiqlal University External link(Jericho, Palestinian Authority);
• An-Najjah UniversityExternal link (Nablus, Palestinian Authority);
• Arab American UniversityExternal link (Jenin, Palestinian Authority);
• Doha Institute for Graduate StudiesExternal link (Doha, Qatar);
• Qatar University – Ibn Khaldon CenterExternal link (Doha, Qatar);
• Ez-Zitouna UniversityExternal link (Tunis, Tunisia);
• Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt UniversityExternal link (Ankara, Turkey);
• Cambridge Muslim CollegeExternal link (Cambridge, UK).    

AARMENA Institutes that are also collaborating to develop cultural heritage and social inclusions and dialogue orientation workshop in the Islamic world are as follows:

• Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology CenterExternal link (East Jerusalem);
• The Libyan Women's Platform for PeaceExternal link (Lybia);
• Al-Salam InstituteExternal link (London, UK);
• International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)External link (New York, USA).

AARMENA is meant to become a sustainable organization to foster sustainable reconciliation in the MENA region and to become a driving force for academic development in interdisciplinary research and endure reconciliation where ever it is needed.

The Jena Center for Reconciliation Studies at Friedrich Schiller University has the following objectives to be achieved from the Project Dialogue with the Islamic world (Project):

• To have academic research on teaching methods on reconciliation studies;
• To develop a curriculum on reconciliation studies, that can be used by AARMENA members of higher educational institutions and to integrate teaching programs in their universities as a course or part of the master program, or a Ph.D. Program;
• To have a joint conference to develop joint publications on reconciliation in the MENA region;
• Dialogue with the Muslim world, to strengthen international cooperation between the members and to present all the scholarly work that has been done in the project;
• Universities and researchers to get more funding and advance in reconciliation studies in the middle of conflicts in the MENA Region;
• To research and develop teaching programs on reconciliation studies as an interdisciplinary approach;
• To integrate reconciliation studies as a topic in a master's program in the MENA region;
• The promotion of cultural dialogue and strengthen international cooperation with the Muslim world through academic work by visiting and signing a memorandum of understanding and developing workshops, summer schools, conferences together;
• Sustainably modernize in technological teaching in the member universities, advancing digital humanities program on teaching reconciliation studies, such as online courses and workshops between members of the AAREMENA with member universities and teaching how to teach and integrate research on common ground on teachings of reconciliation studies;
• Provide targeted support for qualified young academics from the regions while ensuring gender equality;
• Establish Joint research projects and joint program teaching. The development of a vast knowledge-based society on reconciliation studies (AARMENA).

For more information for cooperating in the AARMENA project, please contact the project coordinator Dr. Phil. Iyad AlDajani. 

There is a major discrepancy between the eminent significance of recent post-conflict reconciliation between such countries as Germany, France, Israel, Poland, and other European countries on the one side and the scientific identification and validation of best practices of reconciliation (BPR) on the other. Our various studies have concluded that reconciliation has a major impact on the development of societal and political relationships between conflicting groups and States. Reconciliation helps to prevent future violent conflicts and fosters trust and cooperation, thus, benefiting the relationship on the individual-psychological and the social, cultural and the economic level. While politicians, NGOs, and other civil society actors are aware of the potential reconciliation has to overcome enmity and improve relations on a sustained basis, thorough and wide-spread research is still needed to validate reconciliation practices and make the research results accessible to the world at large.

ECRR is a network of excellent international scientists concerned with reconciliation strategies. The aim is to build an internationally spreading and cooperating scientific center for conflict management, reconciliation strategies, and remembrance cultures for the Saale-region and for Germany as a whole. Possible options for an ECRR office, besides Jena, are Halle, Berlin, or Brussels, among others. The International Workshop "Conflict Resolution, Remembrance, and Justice" with the International Max Planck Research School on Retaliation, Mediation, and Punishment of the Halle University (Prof. Ralph Buchenhorst; Cultural Anthropology) and JCRS (Prof. Martin Leiner) on the 16.-18.07.2014 has been the first of its kind dealing with inner-German reconciliation. JCRS states that it has begun work along with George Mason University and Seoul National University to jointly develop a knowledge management database covering worldwide reconciliation efforts. The center's skills and responsibilities are divided equally between the universities of Halle and Jena with the JCRS.

It is furthermore supported by the following institutions (alphabetical order of the professors, core members):

• Dr. Vladimir HandlExternal link, International Relations, Charles-University Prague (Czech Republic);
• Prof. Dr. Corine DefranceExternal link, Contemporary History, CNRS, University Paris III Sorbonne (France);
• Prof. Dr. Martin Leiner de, Systematic Theology and Ethics, JCRS, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Karina KorostelinaExternal link, Social Psychology, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA (USA);
• Dr. Lily Gardner-FeldmanExternal link, Political Science, AICGS, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC (USA);
• Werner HeinExternal link, Mayer Brown, Washington DC (USA);

Partners:

• UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies, Innsbruck UniversityExternal link (Austria);
• Europa Universität FlensburgExternal link (Germany);
• Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe (CDRSEE)External link, Thessaloniki (Greece);
• Trinity College, University of DublinExternal link (Ireland);
• Martin Springer Center for Conflict Studies, Ben Gurion University,External link Beer Sheba (Israel);
• La Sapienza University, RomeExternal link (Italy);
• Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions, Doshisha UniversityExternal link (Japan);
• Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, YangoonExternal link (Myanmar);
• Program Politics and Religion, University of GroningenExternal link (Netherlands);
• Beyers Naudé Zentrum, University of StellenboschExternal link (South Africa);
• Ethics Center of Zürich UniversityExternal link (Switzerland);
• Peace and Conflict StudiesExternal link, Coventry University (UK).

ECRR will be an international consortium that shall be open to researchers and institutions worldwide, assuming they are willing and able to contribute to the research goals in a significant way.
Already now, the core group members are individually connected to a number of reconciliation researchers and universities around the world which could be the first candidates for membership in the consortium.

Key issues:

• Which reconciliation practices have worked in which context?
• Which practices have not worked and why not?
• How can reconciliation practices be improved?
• Which practices can be recommended in an actual situation?

While researchers around the world already work together on an ad hoc basis on individual reconciliation methods, the necessary systematic, coordinated, and concentrated examination and validation of reconciliation practices require an organized structure of international cooperation such as that of an international consortium. Such consortium would also help in gaining acceptance of reconciliation methods as a valuable tool for the conduct of international relations by political leaders as it is a tool that political elites often ignore or unaware of.

Areas:

• Apologies;
• (Youth) encounter program;
• Common school book projects;
• Common film, medias, arts productions enhancing peace and under-standing;
• Reconciliation through events in sport and culture;
• Commemorations, Memorials;
• Historical commissions;
• Symbolic walks, pilgrimages;
• Truth and Reconciliation commissions;
• Voluntary work, voluntary acts of reparation;
• Help in situations of natural disasters;
• City twinning.

Declaration of intent External link

The Netzwerk Versöhnungsforschung im Deutschsprachigen Raum connects scholars from many disciplines working on reconciliation studies in the German-speaking area, and meets once a year. The first meeting took place at JCRS in 2017:

• Prof. Dr. Andrea BielerExternal link, University of Basel (Switzerland);
• Prof. Dr. Laurent GoetschelExternal link, University of Basel (Switzerland);
• PD Dr. Christine SchliesserExternal link, University of Bern/Zürich (Switzerland);
• Prof. Dr. Heinrich Wilhelm SchäferExternal link, University of Bielefeld (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Maria-Sibylla LotterExternal link, University of Bochum (Germany);
• Dr. Maximilian SchellExternal link, University of Bochum (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Friedrich LohmannExternal link, University of Bundeswehr, Munich (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Ralf WüstenbergExternal link, University of Flensburg (Germany);
• Prof. BaumannExternal link, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Germany);
• Dr. MaruhukiroExternal link, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Germany);
• Prof. Bernd Harbeck-PingelExternal link, Friedensinstitut der Evangelischen Fachhochschule Freiburg (Germany);
• Prof. Karen HinrichsExternal link, Friedensinstitut der Evangelischen Fachhochschule Freiburg (Germany);
• PD Dr. Christine SchließerExternal link, University of Fribourg (Switzerland);
• Dr. Gerd HankelExternal link, Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Matthias BasedauExternal link, GIGA, University of Hamburg (Germany);
• Dr. Amanda Tho SethExternal link, GIGA, University of Hamburg (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Fernando EnnsExternal link, University of Hamburg (Germany);
• Dr. Marie Anne SubklewExternal link, University of Hamburg (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Marco HofheinzExternal link, University of Hannover (Germany);
• PD Dr. Ines Jacqueline WerknerExternal link, Forschungsstätte der Evangelischen Studiengemeinschaft, Heidelberg (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Christopher DaaseExternal link, Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (Germany);
• Prof. Andreas Oberprantacher, Dr. Rina Alluri-Malagayo, Egidio de Bustamante, Sladjana LazicExternal link, UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies, University of Innsbruck (Austria);
• Dr. Francesco FerrariExternal link, JCRS, University of Jena (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Martin Leiner de, JCRS, University of Jena (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Susanne Buckley-ZistelExternal link, University of Marburg (Germany);
• Stefanie MenzelExternal link, University of Marburg (Germany);
• Dr. Igorʾ Aleksandrowič EbanoidseExternal link, Maksim-Gorkij-Institut für Weltliteratur der Russischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Moskau (Russia);
• Prof. Dr. Josefina Echavarria, External linkKROC Institute, Notre Dame University (USA);
• Prof. Dr. Volker Boehme-NesslerExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Dominik GautierExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Jaqueline JülingExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Ulrike Link-WieczorekExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Bianca PickExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Reinhard SchulzExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Andrea StruebindExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Dr. Joachim WillemsExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Dr. Knut WormstädtExternal link, University of Oldenburg (Germany);
• Dr. Katharina PeetzExternal link, University of Saarland (Germany);
• Prof. Dr. Andreas HasencleverExternal link, University of Tübingen (Germany);
• Dr. Markus WeingardtExternal link, Stiftung Weltethos, Tübingen (Germany); 
• Prof. Dr. Michael BöhnkeExternal link, University of Wuppertal (Germany).

The Erasmus+ key objectives are:

• Strengthening of National Research Capacity on Policy, Conflict Resolution, and Reconciliation (PEACE);
• Developing researchers' skills and capabilities on conflict resolution and Reconciliation;
• Strengthening strategic partnerships and networking with leading conflict resolution centers, political strategists, and institutions;
• Promoting interdisciplinary research related to conflict resolution and Reconciliation (e.g., political science, international relations, politics, and law, etc.).

1. Strengthening Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation in the Higher Education Institutions in Palestine

Partners are:

• Friedrich Schiller University Jena de (Germany);
• The Arab American UniversityExternal link (Palestinian Authority); Coordinator
• Hebron UniversityExternal link (Palestinian Authority);
• The Islamic University in GazaExternal link (Palestinian Authority);
• Granada UniversityExternal link (Spain).

2. Academic Alliance for Reconciliation in the Field of Higher Education in Peace, Conflict Transformation, and Reconciliation Studies in the Middle East and North Africa AARMENA

Partners are:

• Friedrich Schiller University Jena de (Germany);
• University of InnsbruckExternal link (Austria);
• University of JordanExternal link (Jordan);
• University of PetraExternal link (Jordan);
• Al-Azhar UniversityExternal link (Palestinian Territories);
• Al-Istiqlal UniversityExternal link (Palestinian Territories).

The JCRS develops both theoretical approaches and pragmatic strategies, in constant dialogue with academic partners from all over the world:

Universities

• Charles Sturt UniversityExternal link (Australia);
• Institut des Hautes Etudes en Médiation et Négociation, Université de BanguiExternal link (Central Afrian Republic);
• Alberto Hurtado University Santiago de ChileExternal link (Chile);
• Universidad de AntioquiaExternal link (Colombia);
• Irish School of Ecumenics in Dublin/BelfastExternal link (Ireland);
• Tel Aviv UniversityExternal link (Israel);
• Doshisha University KyotoExternal link (Japan);
• University of JordanExternal link (Jordan);
• University of PetraExternal link (Amman, Jordan);
• Saint Joseph UniversityExternal link (Lebanon);
• Peace Institute of MyanmarExternal link (Myanmar);
• An Najah National UniversityExternal link, Nablus (Palestine);
• Arab-American University of PalestineExternal link (Palestine);
• Doha InstitutExternal link (Qatar);
• Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences PIASSExternal link (Huye / Ruanda);
• Beyers Naude Center for Public Theologie at Stellenbosch UniversityExternal link (South Africa);
• Asia Center for Reconciliation Studies at Seoul Theological UniversityExternal link (South Korea);
• American-German Institute (AGI)External link (USA);
• The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, External linkWashington (USA);
• Martin-Springer-Institute at Northern Arizona UniversityExternal link (USA).

Scientific Societies

• International Association for Reconciliation Studies (IARS)External link;
• Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS)External link;
• Martin-Buber-GesellschaftExternal link;
• Association Paul RicœurExternal link;
• The European Society for Research in Ethics: Societas EthicaExternal link.

The JCRS develops both theoretical approaches and pragmatic strategies, in constant dialogue with NGOs partners from all over the world:

• King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) External link(Portugal);
• Asociación de víctimas unidas del municipio de Granada (ASOVIDA)External link (Colombia);
• Fundación para la reconciliaciónExternal link (Colombia);
• Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology CenterExternal link (East Jerusalem);
• The Network for Religious and Traditional PeacemakersExternal link (Finland);
• RAPRED GirubuntuExternal link (Germany);
• Community of Sant'EgidioExternal link (Italy);
• Wasatia External link(Palestinian Authority);
• Institute for Justice and Reconciliation External link(South Africa);
• International for Center Transitional Justice (ICTJ)External link (USA);
• Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).External link

The JCRS' most recently established partnership is with the Departamento de AntioquiaExternal link in Colombia. This collaboration will build on many already established connections between JCRS scholars and local initiatives.

For the project [titel], the JCRS is cooperating with the University of Charkiv, which is a public university providing formation for civil servants and other students.

The JCRS is also partnered with the German Federal Foreign OfficeExternal link.