Peacebuilding, Structural Violence & Spatial Reparations in Post-Colonial South Africa

Forde, Susan; Kappler, Stefanie; Björkdahl, Annika

doi:10.1080/17502977.2021.1909297

Peacebuilding, Structural Violence & Spatial Reparations in Post-Colonial South Africa

Forde, Susan; Kappler, Stefanie; Björkdahl, Annika

Authors

Susan Forde

Professor Stefanie Kappler stefanie.kappler@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Annika Björkdahl

Abstract

Traditionally, peacebuilding approaches have placed emphasis on the restoration of political relationships as well as more symbolic notions of community reconciliation and dialogue, resulting in limited attention to the material causes of violence. One example of this is South Africa, wherein the historical structural economic violence of the unequal distribution of resources has been maintained, and after the formal end of apartheid, a lack of equitable distribution of resources is ongoing. This article conceptually and empirically argues that distributive justice and spatial reparations are a way of compensating those affected by structural economic violence and addressing structural inequalities. Reparations should be considered as mechanisms to support readjustment of the socio-economic causes and consequences of violence and war in conjunction with long-term projects promoting social justice.

Citation

Forde, S., Kappler, S., & Björkdahl, A. (2021). Peacebuilding, Structural Violence & Spatial Reparations in Post-Colonial South Africa. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 15(3), 327-346. https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2021.1909297

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 22, 2021
Online Publication Date	Apr 22, 2021
Publication Date	2021
Deposit Date	Mar 23, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Aug 26, 2021
Journal	Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding
Print ISSN	1750-2977
Electronic ISSN	1750-2985
Publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	15
Issue	3
Pages	327-346
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2021.1909297

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© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.