Reconciliation as a Peace‐building Process in Postwar Europe

Reconciliation as a concept and as a political process has received virtually no attention in the literature on international relations, conflict studies, and peace research. In the context of this study, reconciliation refers to a process by which countries can establish structures and procedures for establishing durable peace with their adversaries once they have entered a postsettlement or postconflict phase. One of the major tasks of this article is to explore how reconciliation was realized as a policy process. Drawing on the Franco‐German case, the author reveals how reconciliation functioned as a peace‐building strategy to overcome the historical antagonism between the two countries through the use of cooperative linkages, community building, and the expansion of the societal and cultural ties between France and Germany.