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There is a growing literature on the role of forgiveness in international relations, often connected with transitional justice issues, the role of faith in international affairs, and post-war reconciliation processes. The majority of the case studies examined in the literature are of national processes such as Northern Ireland and South Africa. What is the relevance of forgiveness for inter-state cases? Drawing from the forgiveness literature, this paper examines the role of forgiveness in US relations with Nicaragua since the 1980s. It is argued that the Nicaragua-U.S. case raises several new variables especially applicable to the limits and possibilities of forgiveness in inter-state conflicts. These include: the superpower dynamic and Cold War politics; the impact of domestic forces, such as political division and solidarity movements, on interstate reconciliation; and the impact of economic relationships on forgiveness, such as dependence and need for aid. The literature on forgiveness in international relations has limited itself to the "usual suspects"; this paper seeks to move the literature to examine new variables that may make forgiveness either less applicable or more difficult to pursue. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1990s has been called the age of apologies due to the escalation of political apologies beginning in this time period. Apologies by governments include the British apology to the Irish and the Maoris, Japan's apology to the Korean comfort women, and the apology of the United States to the native Hawaiians. These apologies are deemed to be part of reconciliation processes for past wrongs. It is notable, however, that official acts of forgiveness rarely accompany these apologies. In fact, forgiveness is not something that nation-states or their representatives seem to do. Why not? What possibilities exist for nation-states to forgive, as part of reconciliation and justice-seeking processes? What would it look like and what meaning would it have? Drawing from literature on state apologies and on forgiveness in societal reconciliation processes, a framework is developed for forgiveness in international relations. Historical and current cases are used as illustrative examples to demonstrate the application of the framework. Five main issues guide inquiry. How does this merciful act of forgiveness fit with the primary requirements of justice in dealing with past wrongs, as evidenced by the institutionalization of war crimes tribunals and truth commissions? How can the collective nation-state forgive on behalf of individual victims? Is forgiveness applicable to inter-state as well as intra-state processes? What is the strategic value of forgiveness for nation-states? Finally, what are the possibilities of unilateral forgiveness? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, NGOs have been hailed as the new conflict managers for their emerging role in peacebuilding in violent conflicts. Many relief and development organizations have come to realize the impact of their presence and their provision of aid in conflicts, and they have decided to be purposeful about that impact by adding peacebuilding to their mandates. For the most part, the NGO and peacebuilding literature has praised the advent of NGOs in peacebuilding. This paper seeks to provide a more critical analysis of NGO peacebuilding, drawing from the literature on relief and development NGOs and concerns that this literature raises about NGO interactions with state actors in relief and development work. Just as development NGOs are interdependent with the government agencies that fund them, the new NGO mandate of peacebuilding is heavily influenced by state interests in post conflict settings. The dilemmas this raises for NGO peacebuilding work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, Lutheran World Relief, as an international relief and development NGO, began a peacebuilding initiative in Colombia. They facilitated the formation of a partnership between peace sanctuary churches in Colombia and six communities of faith in the upper Midwest of the United States, coordinated by LWR staff. This partnership, called Sal y Luz (salt and light in Spanish) has the goal of education and advocacy both in Colombia and in the U.S.. Sal y Luz represents a powerful example of transnational solidarity for peace, which may find precursors in past solidarity movements like those in Central America in the 1980s. There are also implications and lessons of this case study for the broader field of NGO peacebuilding work. How should peacebuilding NGOs most effectively help their constituencies in the U.S. understand and become invested in their peacebuilding work? What benefits does this partnership bring in terms of accountability and effectiveness in peacebuilding? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]