Civil Sphere and Transitions to Peace: Cultural Trauma and Civil Repair

Original publication: Alexander, J.C. (2022). Civil Sphere and Transitions to Peace: Cultural Trauma and Civil Repair. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 35, 85-93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-020-09371-7. Translation of the article into Ukrainian and its printing are authorized by both the author and “International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society”.

Ukrainian translation by Dmytro Hlomozda

What are the conditions for establishing solidarity after a period of intensive and divisive social conflict — what Kant called a cosmopolitan constitution? In this essay, I argue that such a widened solidarity depends on establishing a relatively independent civil sphere, the effective functioning of whose institutions depend, in turn, on a shared sacred discourse of civility. To speak such a shared language, however, requires much more than engaging in speech acts. It depends upon a deeply emotional and highly symbolic process, one in which public performances of reconciliation create new structures of feeling and identification. This theoretical argument is elaborated empirically with reference to post-Holocaust Germany, post-Franco Spain, and post-Apartheid South Africa.

Keywords: Civil sphere, post-conflict societies, cultural trauma, post-Apartheid South Africa, post-Franco Spain

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Received 05.07.2023