Tracing responses to recognition in the Oslo peace process and its aftermath—The interlinkage between relational and internal ontological security

Abstract

Peace processes are highly volatile and invite constructive as well as destructive relationship-shifts. By connecting theories of recognition, ontological security, and conflict transformation, this article displays how a conflict settlement process might enable deep-ranging conflict transformation in a process ranging from thin to thick recognition, and conversely, how that may spur backlashes whereby parties to conflict resist identity fluctuations in violent ways. By using illustrations from key developments in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, with its inherent elaborations on recognition and identity, this article showcases promises and pitfalls that may be the result of increased recognition of identity among conflict parties. The analysis unwraps how shifts in relations among parties which may lower ontological insecurities can spur introspection and increased thick recognition of the other party to conflict which also comes with shifts in self-images. This is a highly volatile trajectory, sensitive to deterioration in relations among parties, which at a later stage can cause immense backlashes, creating furthered rifts between conflict parties as well as among internal actors who have different views on how far it is possible to go in terms of recognizing past wrongdoings in the conflict. By linking relational and internal aspects of ontological security to processes of recognition, understandings on the linkage between negotiation/conflict resolution and historical acknowledgement are furthered.