Nelson Mandela and the politics of empathy: reflections on the moral conditions for conflict resolutions in Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	Nelson Mandela and the politics of empathy: reflections on the moral conditions for conflict resolutions in Africa
Author:	Eze, Chielozona
Year:	2012
Periodical:	African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review (ISSN 2156-7263)
Volume:	2
Issue:	1
Pages:	122-135
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	conflict resolution oratory democratization
About person:	Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013)
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/africonfpeacrevi.2.1.122
Abstract:	This paper is a reflection on Mandela's rhetoric of empathy and its moral-political implications with specific regard to the difficult transition period from apartheid to democracy in South Africa. It argues that Mandela employed a deliberative and rational appeal to the riches of the human experience as a rallying point for the creation of a new society. The paper points to the critical lesson that though empathy is not a panacea for all the problems of a society, it can help establish conditions for progressive deliberations and conflict resolutions. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]