PSYCHOCULTURAL INTERPRETATION THEORY AND PEACEMAKING IN ETHNIC CONFLICTS

Psychocultural interpretation theory explains the intensity and intran sigence of ethnic conflicts and in so doing challenges earlier antipsy chological views of social and political conflict. It provides a socia lly rooted psychoanalytic theory and language giving a central role to culturally rooted social and psychological processes which produce di spositions-shared images, perceptions of the external world, and motiv es for individual and group behavior. In intransigent ethnic conflicts , those core dispositions which invoke security fears and deep-seated threats to identity, are used by groups and individuals to interpret t he motives of opponents in ways which often prevent groups from addres sing the competing substantive interests which divide them. Conflict m anagement proposals which follow from psychocultural interpretation th eory focus on either altering disputants' deep-seated mutual fears sur rounding issues of identity and security in intense conflicts or in lo wering their salience. To do this, parties must come to recognize the connection between past losses and present fears, and to engage in col lective grieving, mourning, and reconciliation. Psychocultural interpr etation theory does not deny the relevance of either power inequalitie s or interest-based proposals for peacemaking but sees critical first steps in conflict management as changing the mutual hostile interpreta tions antagonists hold.