engleski

Determinants of post-conflict trust: the role of ethnic identity, personal and collective victimization and intergroup emotions

Intergroup conflict is the strongest form of in-group identity threat that violates intergroup trust intensely and with long-term consequences. This is especially true if conflict happens within a community where currently antagonized sides lived peacefully and harmoniously before the conflict. In such circumstances intergroup conflict is an ultimate form of violation of trust. In this chapter we discuss determinants of post- conflict trust, by using empirical data collected in the war-torn community of the city of Vukovar, Croatia. We analyzed how the war experiences of two major ethic communities - Croats and Serbs - have shaped their post- conflict interethnic trust. We hypothesized that individual and collective trauma would be important predictors of the post-conflict intergroup (dis)trust, together with the strength of ethnic identity around which formerly antagonized groups continue to build their social living. Furthermore, we also assumed that specific emotional responses toward an out-group, both positive and negative, would additionally contribute in explaining post-conflict intergroup trust. Our results showed that intergroup emotions were the most important predictors of trust. In discussing the findings we acknowledge how differences in war experiences of the two groups have determined their post-conflict trust and we address the possibilities for improving the intergroup relations.

Interethnic trust ; Post-conflict community ; Ethnic identity ; Individual trauma ; Collective trauma, Intergroup emotions

nije evidentirano