Winner of the ISA Best Book in Human Rights

Reconciliation by Stealth advances a novel approach to evaluating the effects of transitional justice in postconflict societies. Through her examination of the Balkan conflicts, Denisa Kostovicova asks what happens when former adversaries discuss legacies of violence and atrocity, and whether it is possible to do so without further deepening animosities. Reconciliation by Stealth shifts our attention from what people say about war crimes, to how they deliberate past wrongs.

Bringing together theories of democratic deliberation and peacebuilding, Kostovicova demonstrates how people from opposing ethnic groups reconcile through reasoned, respectful, and empathetic deliberation about a difficult legacy. She finds that expression of ethnic difference plays a role in good-quality deliberation across ethnic lines, while revealed intraethnic divisions help deliberators expand moral horizons previously narrowed by conflict. In the process, people forge bonds of solidarity and offset divisive identity politics that bears upon their deliberations.

Reconciliation by Stealth shows us the importance of theoretical and methodological innovation in capturing how transitional justice can promote reconciliation, and points to the untapped potential of deliberative problem-solving to repair relationships fractured by conflict.

Thanks to generous funding from the London School of Economic and Political Science, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.

Denisa Kostovicova is Associate Professor of Global Politics in the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is the author of Kosovo.

Political scientists, practitioners, and scholars of peacebuilding and transitional justice should read her book for inspiration in crafting precisely such spaces.

This is a great book. Denisa Kostovicova is a 'Rolls Royce' among academics— by which I mean the epitome of elegance and quality, all of which gleams in this outstanding volume. She has produced an exceptional work.

In Reconciliation by Stealth, Denisa Kostovicova outlines an innovative approach to assess the influence of transitional justice in post-conflict settings.

Denisa Kostovicova's work is an essential advancement of reconciliation and can be used within academia without compromising the integrity of the Balkan region's history.

In Reconciliation by Stealth, Kostovicova (London School of Economics, England) introduces readers to another way of dealing with war crimes: conversation. The goal is to allow victims and survivors the chance to speak their truths and expose others to them. One's gender, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, and more affects one's ability to speak the truth.