Self-Censorship as a Socio-Psychological Barrier to Peacemaking

Self-censorship is of great importance in societies involved in intractable conflict. In this context, it blocks information that may contradict the dominant conflict-supporting narratives. Thus, self-censorship often serves as an effective societal mechanism that prevents free flow and transparency of information regarding the conflict and therefore can be seen as a barrier for a peacemaking process. We begin the chapter by describing the distinguishing characteristics of intractable conflicts, most notably the socio-psychological barriers that fuel this type of conflict, focusing on self-censorship. Then we turn to review research conducted with the Jewish-Israeli population, which provides empirical evidence of the operation of self-censorship as a barrier, its antecedents, and consequences. Finally, we discuss a number of conclusions that stem from the reviewed literature.