On 10 September 2007 at 18.30 Kjell-Åke Nordquist held a lecture in the town library of Mariehamn entitled ”Reconciliation – a political reality?”
The lecture dealt with reconciliation in both theory and practice. Nordquist unravels the concepts surrounding processes of reconciliation after war, and discusses what reconciliation could be and the ideas behind it. In recent years peace treaties have all the more often included elements of reconciliation, and the appointment of reconciliation commissions are often included in peace treaties. This is a relatively recent development in the history of peace processes. Twenty years ago reconciliation commissions barely existed. The process of reconciliation in South Africa, and its reconciliation commission, is perhaps one of the examples that have attracted the most attention.
Kjell-Åke Nordquist has himself worked with processes of reconciliation in, among others, East Timor and Colombia, from which he will also share his experiences. Kjell-Åke Nordquist is an associate professor in peace and conflict research at Uppsala University as well as a research developer at the Stockholm School of Theology.
Kjell-Åke Nordquist is a member of the board of directors of the Åland Islands Peace Institute as well as the chair of the institute’s research council.
