The Nexus Between Reintegration of Ex-combatants and Reconciliation in Nepal: A Social Capital Approach

Abstract

Post-conflict societies are confronted with the challenge of rebuilding social relationships between war-time adversaries, victims and perpetrators of violence and the people divided socially and politically by an armed conflict. Rebuilding social relationships should, therefore, be a core function as well as an outcome of peacebuilding in countries emerging from an armed conflict (Lederach 1997; Riek et al. 2008). In practice, however, liberal peacebuilding focuses more on addressing immediate security challenges through programmes such as disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), building democratic institutions and reviving markets rather than undertaking long-term efforts to bring about lasting changes in societal relationships through reconciliation.