Social Representations of the Past in Post-conflict Societies: Adherence to Official Historical Narratives and Distrust Through Heightened Threats

One of the main obstacles to the cultivation of historical thinking, in post-conflict societies, is adherence to the official master narratives of conflict. We argue based on empirical evidence from three post-conflict settings (Cyprus , Serbia and Croatia ) that such representations of the past and their uncritical internalization that leads to adherence to master narratives of conflict constructs a threatened self and generates distrust towards the outgroup. Such a mentality becomes a major obstacle to conflict transformation and to a peaceful settlement of intercommunal conflicts.