The Political Dimension of Post-Conflict: Conceptual Debates and Empirical Advances

This article describes the political challenges faced by post-conflict societies, using both normative and empirical perspectives. After a conceptual discussion on the system-, group-, and individuallevel challenges, referred to institutional reform, reintegration of excombatants, reconciliation, and participation, it focuses on developing an operative definition of political reintegration. Afterwards, it presents a descriptive analysis of the first results of a political deliberation excercise among ex-combatants from guerrilla and paramilitary groups. Not only do results offer insights on the politiclal behavior of those who had resorted in the past to the use of violence, but they also present an assessment of how feasible would be promoting deliberative politics as a strategy for democracy-deepening in post-conflict settings.