A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation (2012)

"What is needed for the reconstruction of political relationships in societies that have been torn apart by deadly conflicts? Colleen Murphy has answered this question in a path-breaking book that is essential reading for anyone concerned to understand the rule of law and the place of trust in our shared social lives."

"A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation is far and away the best treatment of political reconciliation in a growing literature on this hot topic. Murphy has mastered this literature, distilled it, and set it off against her own views, which, to my mind, are better than the extant views. I would single out her discussion of the concepts of reconciliation, rule of law, and trust, as especially meritorious; I learned an enormous amount from them. The book is a tour-de-force, setting out a new way to think of reconciliation and arguing at length against all of the major alternative approaches."

"....Murphy's book offers a great deal to readers interested in the political philosophy of reconciliation. The discussions of the rule of law, political trust, and the general framework for reconciliation in particular are rich and insightful. Moreover, the book helps to fill an unfortunate gap in the literature on reconciliation by offering an extended systematic political philosophical account of reconciliation that is analytically sharp and morally insightful. It thereby helps us to understand better the moral issues in political reconciliation, and, I expect, will help to repair the shameful dearth of philosophical attention given to these matters by encouraging other political philosophers to think carefully about them."

"....This is a well-argued analysis of some of the damage that civil conflicts and repressive governments do to political relationships, especially in postauthoritarian transitional societies...."

"Colleen Murphy provides us with an original, nuanced, well-written and analytically incisive diagnosis of how political relationships fail and what it takes to fix them. This is an important and timely book furthering both our understanding of what counts, normatively, as a healthy polity and what can be done practically to nurse war-torn communities back to health.... The book is a display of analytic political philosophy at its best, seamlessly blending the normative and practical aspects of post war repair. It is sure to become a central text in the growing literature in this field."

"For anyone interested in a critical, practical, and political exploration of reconciliation, Colleen Murphy’s book is a wonderful resource. It is a fast-paced and well-written book that compels the reader to keep going. And, it is useful in the everyday world."

"A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation offers theorists and practitioners of reconciliation a wealth of thoughtful insights and useful theoretical tools for navigating the murky waters of post-conflict repair. It also invites us to rethink the nature of political relationships more generally, both as they ought to be and as they fall away from this ideal. Finally, Murphy’s desiderata for a theory of political reconciliation and her own answers to those desiderata raise the bar for future philosophical interventions."

"Murphy succeeds in fashioning an ethic that conceives and addresses the problem of political reconciliation as a whole. Her development and deployment of the rule of law, trust, and capabilities is creative and rigorous. Her book will likely stand as a major position in the developing literature on the ethics of addressing past injustices in pursuit of more just political orders… a masterful treatment of the vexing subject of political reconciliation."

"Both texts deliver an original insight into and comprehensive account of the collapse and restitution of political relationships, which will be of interest to philosophers, legal scholars, policy analysts and all those who are interested in transitional justice, democracy, and global politics and international relations. The books are setting out a new way of thinking about reconciliation, and potentially could be used both as a classroom textbook and as a means for advancing the political reconciliation discourse."
(joint review of my book and Nir Eisikovits, Sympathizing with the Enemy”)

"Murphy […] dedicates a considerable portion of her book to enabling a greater understanding of the relationship between the individual/groups and the state/officials through a meticulous examination of the manner in which the constitutive elements of political relationship, such as trust and capabilities, are damaged by civil conflict and repressive rule and by illustrating what transformed and rebuilt relationships should look like."

"...over the past quarter century philosophers have developed analyses of forgiveness, mercy, pardon, reconciliation, atonement, and other collective responses to wrongdoing in an attempt to make sense of morally appropriate political responses to them. Colleen Murphy’s A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation (Cambridge, 2010) is an important and thoughtful contribution to this literature […] Murphy’s remarks on the nature of reciprocity and respect for moral agency, and the role of group identity and history in effecting successful political transitions are insightful and compelling."