Moving forward? How war experiences, interethnic attitudes, and intergroup forgiveness affect the prospects for political tolerance in postwar Sri Lanka
| Author | Sara Kijewski,Carolin Rapp |
| Date | 01 November 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343319849274 |
| Published date | 01 November 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Regular Articles |
Moving forward? How war experiences,
interethnic attitudes, and intergroup
forgiveness affect the prospects for political
tolerance in postwar Sri Lanka
Sara Kijewski
Institute of Political Science, Department of Social Sciences, University of Bern
Carolin Rapp
Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen
Abstract
How does civil war shape the prospects of lasting peace between formerly opposing ethnic groups after the end of
violence? This article addresses the complex relationship between war e xperience, interethnic attitudes, interethnic
forgiveness, and the willingness to permit basic civil liberties to former enemies in the context of postwar
Sri Lanka. Despite the end of the 26-year-long civil war in 2009, social and political tensions between the two
largest ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the Sri Lankan Tamils, still prevail. Political tolerance is in the literature
considered a crucial micro-level condition for peaceful coexistence, yet, its determinants, in particular the role of
war experiences, have not received sufficient attention. Using new and unique all-isl andr epresentative survey data
(N ¼1,420), we examine the mutual permission of civil liberties of these two ethnic groups. Our analyses reveal
two important findings: first, the likelihood of granting civil liberties varies by civil liberty and ethnic group.
Whereas most members of both ethnic groups are willing to grant the right to vote, to hold a speech, and to hold a
government position, the right to demonstrate is highly contested, with only low shares of both Tamils and
Sinhalese being willing to grant the other group this right. Second, the structural equation models reveal that the
direct impact of war exposure is less powerful than expected and depends on the political right in question. Not
forgiving the other ethnic group, partly driven by war experience and ethnic prejudice, appears to be a more
consistent predictor of intolerance. These results imply that postwar efforts to further forgiveness are important to
promote political tolerance and thereby long-lasting peace.
Keywords
civil war, ethnic prejudice, forgiveness, peacebuilding, political tolerance, postwar society, reconciliation, Sri Lanka,
war experience,
Introduction
The process of reconciliation – the removal of conflict-
related emotional barriers blocking the end of intergroup
conflict (Nadler & Shnabel, 2008: 39) – is now consid-
ered crucial to achieve lasting peace in post-conflict
societies (Bar-Tal, Rosen & Nets-Zehngut, 2009; Bar-
Siman-Tov, 2004). The 26-year-long war between the
government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil secessionist rebel
group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
has left a powerful social and human impact on the
country (Newman, 2014). The ethnic nature of the con-
flict, its length, and its termination through a one-sided
military victory pose particular challenges for postwar
peacebuilding. Yet, while recon ciliation has become a
buzzword that has dominated the country’s postwar
Corresponding author:
sara.kijewski@ipw.unibe.ch
Journal of Peace Research
2019, Vol. 56(6) 845–859
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343319849274
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