Age Of Apology Research Articles

Political Apologies for Historical Injustices: Engaging with Questions of Power, Utility, and Impact

Abstract The purpose of the special forum is to analyze political apologies through a variety of critical lenses in order to evaluate their efficacy for conflict mediation and redress of historical injustice. The proliferation of group apologies in the 1990s and 2000s led some scholars to herald the arrival of an “age of apology.” However, the task of assessing the impacts of these apologies and gauging their potential for fostering reconciliation has remained unfinished. The scholarship has been characterized by alternating currents of idealism and realism, but much of the work has been intuitive rather than empirical, and there is little agreement as to the evaluative criteria. With these papers, we take stock of what has been learned about political apologies, and we seek new avenues for exploration. Critics are right to question the unequal power structures that apologies sometimes reinforce, and it is important to understand how apologies leave crucial aspects of injustice untouched. At the same time, the prevalence of apologies in international affairs and the propensity of both perpetrators and victims to seek acknowledgment through the discourse of apologies suggest that continued study of apologies is warranted. Probing the performative aspects of apologies and dissecting their contradictions does not foreclose the possibility of their also having value for improving intergroup relationships, deepening historical understanding, and enacting justice, for example, by strengthening demands for reparations. Nor should we abandon efforts to understand what moral substance these apologies may convey, simply because we have seen how they can be cynically manipulated.

Denial in the Age of Apology: Some Reflections on Recent Trends in Historical Denialism

Denial in the Age of Apology: Some Reflections on Recent Trends in Historical Denialism

Examining the ‘age of apology’: Insights from the Political Apology database

It is often assumed that we are currently living in an ‘age of apology’, whereby countries increasingly seek to redress human rights violations by offering apologies. Although much has been written about why this may occur, the phenomenon itself has never been examined through a large-scale review of the apologies that have been offered. To fill this gap, we created a database of political apologies that have been offered for human rights violations across the world. We found 329 political apologies offered by 74 countries, and cross-nationally mapped and compared these apologies. Our data reveal that apologies have increasingly been offered since the end of the Cold War, and that this trend has accelerated in the last 20 years. They have been offered across the globe, be it that they seem to have been embraced by consolidated liberal democracies and by countries transitioning to liberal democracies in particular. Most apologies have been offered for human rights violations that were related to or took place in the context of a (civil) war, but there appears to be some selectivity as to the specific human rights violations that countries actually mention in the apologies. On average, it takes more than a generation before political apologies are offered.

Socio-Linguistic Study of National Apologies in Public Discourse

An apology is a formal and known acknowledgement that an individual uses when some individuals violate human rights, i.e., apologies emerge when human rights are violated for a reason or another.
 The national apology can be defined as the type of apology that is political, collective, and intrastate which a group of people offer to another by using an appropriate representation. Though the term ‘age of apology’ first emerged two decades ago, the term ‘national apology’, even with age, has continued to be one that is specifically analytically elusive.
 In contrast to interpersonal apologies that exist between individuals, a collective apology is constructed of and directed to definite communities. It is considered as political since it is made by/through political or social companies, institutions or organizations and for past wrongdoings of political characters.
 Using national apology, the speaker tries to be political in his/her speech to be able to achieve his/her aim of the communication. Using different strategies, one of them is national apology, the speaker tries to avoid FTA and get the acceptable response from the audience.
 The aim of this study is to analyze how the speaker uses the national apology in public discourse, the reasons, the constructions and the meaning of this kind of apologies. This study is concerned with investigating the social functions of national apologies.

Non-Apology in the Age of Apology

After more than two decades winding its way through a variety of United Nations (UN) mechanisms, in September 2007 the world’s indigenous peoples welcomed the news that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (hereinafter the Declaration) was at last approved by the vast majority of nation-states.2 The four settler3 states that opposed the Declaration initially (the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) have each in turn voiced their ultimate approval of the declaration and have issued statements in support to their indigenous citizens.In spite of the fact that these statements expressed a measure of regret for past wrongs committed, not one of those endorsements embodied a formal apology. Now that the Declaration has entered its eleventh year, many continue to question to what extent these endorsements have meaningfully advanced reconciliation for indigenous peoples and whether these endorsements were authentic in their stated desire to do more than just acknowledge the aspirations contained in the Declaration.This comment will examine the framework for political apologies in general and then consider the endorsements of the Declaration by the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in light of contemporary apology theory. The article will then examine affirmative actions taken by those states following their endorsements in order to advance the claims of indigenous peoples and look at whether these actions have fallen short in providing meaningful redress for centuries of past wrongs.

A Pragmatic Study of Apologies Posted on Weibo by Chinese Celebrities

As we are living in the “Age of Apology” (Brooks, 1999), our ability to say “I’m sorry” does matter considerably, for an appropriate apology would not only express regret but also contribute to interpersonal relationship management and image restoration. Although apology as a social phenomenon has been extensively studied in the English-speaking world, Chinese apologies have not drawn due attention from linguists and management scientists. This paper investigates formal apologies made by Chinese celebrities between 2018 and 2019 in the context of social media by scrutinizing 30 cases collected from Weibo, a Chinese micro-blogging site. Based on Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) and image repair strategies, it is found that (1) IFID (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device) is the most common strategy in apologies, followed by Explanation or Account, whereas Offer of Repair is the least; (2) In terms of image restoration, Chinese celebrities tend to employ Reduce Offensiveness and Mortification to offset negative impressions; (3) Being shamed or being embarrassed (“羞愧”) and self-examination (“反省”) are specific IFID types in Chinese, and some mitigation strategies distinct from those in other languages are found. The research has revealed the specific features of Chinese apologies on social media and will shed light on ways of image management for the ordinary Chinese in general and Chinese celebrities in particular.

Lebanon’s ‘age of apology’ for Civil War atrocities: A look at Assad Shaftari and Samir Geagea

Lebanon’s ‘age of apology’ for Civil War atrocities: A look at Assad Shaftari and Samir Geagea

Educational history in the age of apology

Reconciliation processes – wherein governments and other organizations examine their past institutional practices to understand contemporary problems in relation to minorities or indigenous groups – have become a widespread international phenomenon in recent decades. In Sweden, such an ongoing process is the reconciliation work between the Church of Sweden and the Sami. In this process, which recently resulted in the publication of a scholarly anthology (or a “white book”), educational history has come to play a vital part. The present article uses the Church of Sweden’s White Book as an empirical object of study to examine in more detail the role and significance of knowledge of educational history for this specific reconciliation process. By focusing on various scientific complexities and epistemological tensions that tend to arise in these kinds of undertakings, this paper also aims to problematize the white book genre itself as a path to historical knowledge. By doing this, this article’s overall ambition is to contribute to future scholarly work in reconciliation activities, white papers and truth commissions. This study applies a qualitative content analysis and connects theoretically to the growing field of transitional justice research.

The role of life histories in an age of apology: A presence of the past?

Based on an oral history study that retrospectively explores the life histories of former orphans in the city of Ghent (Belgium) after the Second World War, we analyse and critique the role of historical research in the current apology trend. Due to the crucial role of (oral) history in these out-of-home care inquiries, these official public apologies, offered by the state as an attempt to come to terms with the past, deserve some specific academic attention in social work research. By inquiring into historical abuse in child welfare and educational institutions, governments of the Western world attempt to close a rather dark chapter in their national histories. Relying on research insights emerging from our research project with formerly orphaned children, we argue that it is impossible to puzzle together one common historical narrative. Moreover, we discovered that the history of the Ghent orphanages is still very much debated and alive more than 35 years after their doors were closed. In this article, we tease out how life histories can play a role in Western welfare states today. We therefore explore the relevance of the notion of ‘presence’ in order to rethink the relationship between the past and the present.

The easiest word

Why do we apologise so much, and is it really a problem, asks Moya Sarner

Apologies demanded yet devalued: Normative dilution in the age of apology

Dramatic increases in the issuance of political apologies over the last two decades mean that we now live in the “age of apology”. But what does this surge in frequency mean for the effectiveness of intergroup apologies in promoting forgiveness? In the current research we propose a paradoxical “normative dilution” effect whereby behavioral norms increase the perceived appropriateness of an action while at the same time reducing its symbolic value. We experimentally manipulated the salience of the age-of-apology norm prior to assessing participant (N=128) reactions to past unjust treatment of ingroup POWs by the Japanese during WWII. The apologetic norm increased victim group members' desire for an apology in response to the harm. However, after reading the actual apology, the invocation of the norm decreased perceived apology sincerity and subsequent willingness to forgive. Thus, although apologetic trends may suggest greater contemporary interest in seeking reconciliation and harmony, their inflationary use risks devaluing apologies and undermining their effectiveness.

Shifting the ground of Canadian literary studies

Preface Introduction: Shifting the Ground of a Discipline: Emergence & Canadian Literary Studies in English National Literatures in the Shadow of Neoliberalism Beyond CanLit(e): Reading. Interdisciplinarity. Transatlantically. White Settlers & the Biopolitics of State Building in Canada Some Great Crisis: Vimy as Originary Violence Amplifying Threat: Reasonable Accommodations & Quebecs BouchardTaylor Commission Hearings (2007) The Time Has Come: Self & Community Articulations in Colour. An Issue & Awakening Thunder Archivable Concepts: Talonbooks & Literary Translation Is CanLit Lost in Japanese Translation? The Cunning of Reconciliation: Reinventing White Civility in the Age of Apology The Long March to Recognition: Sakej Henderson, First Nations Jurisprudence, & Sui Generis Solidarity bush/writing: embodied deconstruction, traces of community, & writing against the state in indigenous acts of inscription Index.

International Law as Memorial Sites: The “Comfort Women” Lawsuits Revisited

Abstract This article revisits the legal and philosophical frontiers passionately explored in the “comfort women” lawsuits in Japan. The epoch-making judicial battle challenging the legality and legitimacy of Japanese military sexual slavery has created an innovative space for combining justice and history. Of enormous practical import are a series of lower court judgments that determined the wrongfulness of Japan’s shameful involvement in the heinous abusive practices during the wartime period. Invoking the nebulous concept of the “Framework” of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, the Supreme Court rendered a decision in 2007 to procedurally shut the door to the war reparation claims. The decision, however, may not be sustained from the perspective of contemporary international law that is increasingly infused with the quality of trans-temporal justice. The author argues that the Government of Japan should discharge its responsibility by faithfully adopting measures required under international law, an act powerfully called for in the “Age of Apology” and within a new global paradigm against violence against women.

Sites of Contestation: What Apology Debates Tell Us about International Relations: Sorry States: Apologies in International Politics; Troubled Apologies among Japan, Korea, and the United States

Some scholars have stated that an “age of apology” began in the 1990s (Brooks 1999: 3)—that apologies now are considered standard and beneficial practice in business, domestic politics, and international affairs. Some praise this trend, seeing it as a sign that a new space has opened up in the post-Cold War world for moral concerns and “national self-reflexivity” (Barkan 2000: xvii).1 Such scholars and other commentators see a great deal of potential in apology to change relationships for the better.2 While more discussions public apologies occurred in the 1990s,3 however, it is unclear what this change means. After all, despite the increase in discussion, official apologies remain relatively rare, particularly regarding thorny historical issues (such as the Japanese regarding their imperial period or the United States regarding slavery).

Reconciling "Terror": Managing Indigenous Resistance in the Age of Apology

Reconciling "Terror"Managing Indigenous Resistance in the Age of Apology Pauline Wakeham (bio) If recent years have witnessed the rise of a worldwide phenomenon of reconciliation and apology, so also in the past few decades, and with increasing force since September 11, 2001, the global forum has seen the increased mediatization of spectacles of terror. The present moment is thus characterized by two seemingly contradictory rubrics: the "age of apologies" and the "War on Terror."1 While political and critical discourses have tended to bifurcate discussion of these two contemporaneous phenomena, I argue that they are intimately interconnected.2 At the same time that governments and tribunals are reinscribing liberal humanist principles in their quest to find redemption from violence and to reaffirm a commitment to justice and peace—those concepts that seem to be the foundation of reconciliation processes—new crimes against humanity are being legitimated under the banner of "just war" and uncannily similar discourses regarding the spread of democracy and the upholding of global peace. This article examines the complex intersections between the age of apologies and the War on Terror and the political ramifications of these intertwined—rather than discrete—phenomena. In particular, this essay is concerned with the implications of the conjuncture of discourses of reconciliation and terror for Indigenous peoples in settler states such as New Zealand and Canada. Over the past two decades, several nations that have participated repeatedly in the globalization of "scenes of repentance, confession, . . . [and] apology" are former settler colonies that have been forced to reckon with the violence they have inflicted upon autochthonous populations.3 Within this context, "reconciliation" has become a deeply contested term, subject to a [End Page 1] range of conceptualizations that differ significantly with regard to what kinds of reparations and political processes it should entail. Although reconciliation initiatives could hold radically transformative potential, dominant formulations—as articulated by a range of actors, including settler states and mainstream media—have tended to foreclose alternative meanings and co-opt apologies as a strategy of containment, thereby seeking to manage Indigenous calls for social change by substituting rhetorical gestures of atonement for more radical processes of redistributive justice or political power sharing.4 Overshadowed by settler states’ self-promotion as sites of reconciliation, the assimilation of the "racialization of terror" to the terrain of settler colonial politics and the application of "homeland security" measures to Indigenous peoples have received far less media coverage and critical attention.5 And yet the expansion of the rhetoric and resources of state "counterterrorism" in these settler states has been similarly utilized to suppress Indigenous anticolonial activism. This is not to say that state policies of reconciliation and counterterrorism are reducible to one another or that they have been deliberately coordinated in tandem. Dominant logics of reconciliation and terror may not necessarily employ the same practices, but they nevertheless intersect in their efforts to manage a third term, namely, Indigenous anticolonial resistance. Through case studies of recent events in New Zealand and Canada, I analyze how reconciliation and terror may converge in ways that collapse the differences between a spectrum of Indigenous anticolonial resistance practices and strip them of their historical and political specificity. In the process, Indigenous struggles for justice are evacuated of their particular political content and framed as obstacles to national healing and threats to national security. Genealogies of Reconciliation and Terror Before delving into the specifics of recent case studies, I want to first establish a conceptual foundation for understanding the convergence of reconciliation and terror as complementary logics of contemporary settler colonial power. The task of this section is to briefly sketch out the general coordinates of state reconciliation initiatives in Canada and New Zealand and then demonstrate how, ideologically and politically, they have come to intersect with discourses of terror. In Canada the federal government responded to Indigenous peoples’ calls for redress [End Page 2] in 1998 with a "statement of reconciliation," delivered by the minister of Indian affairs and northern development.6 Although the statement expressed "profound regret for past actions of the federal government which have contributed to these difficult pages in the history of our relationship together," it fell short of a full...

P.2.010 Carbon dioxide-induced anxiety and the successive negative contrast effect in rats

Dramatic increases in the issuance of political apologies over the last two decades mean that we now live in the “age of apology”. But what does this surge in frequency mean for the effectiveness of intergroup apologies in promoting forgiveness? In the current research we propose a paradoxical “normative dilution” effect whereby behavioral norms increase the perceived appropriateness of an action while at the same time reducing its symbolic value. We experimentally manipulated the salience of the age-of-apology norm prior to assessing participant (N = 128) reactions to past unjust treatment of ingroup POWs by the Japanese during WWII. The apologetic norm increased victim group members' desire for an apology in response to the harm. However, after reading the actual apology, the invocation of the norm decreased perceived apology sincerity and subsequent willingness to forgive. Thus, although apologetic trends may suggest greater contemporary interest in seeking reconciliation and harmony, their inflationary use risks devaluing apologies and undermining their effectiveness.

Rituals of apology in the global arena

Since the beginning of the 1990s, there has been growing academic interest in the speech act of apology. Both the nature of apologetic communicative processes and the potential of apologies to promote reconciliation remain, however, under debate. The aim of this article is to map common types of rituals found in what is termed ‘the age of apology’, to identify the processual and structural characteristics of these rituals, and to understand their contribution to restoring relations in the global arena. The analysis yields three types of rituals of apology: purification – that is, asymmetrical rituals in which the offender issues an apology in order to purify his or her dismal past but does not necessarily need the approval of an offended party; humiliation – that is, asymmetrical rituals in which the offended party forces the offender to participate in a degradation ritual as a condition for closure; and settlement – that is, symmetrical rituals in which both sides strive to restore relations. The theoretical and practical implications of these rituals are discussed.

Reconciling “Terror”: Managing Indigenous Resistance in the Age of Apology

Reconciling “Terror”: Managing Indigenous Resistance in the Age of Apology

A Critical Review of Official Public Apologies: Aims, Pitfalls, and a Staircase Model of Effectiveness

The world has entered into an “age of apology,” in which governments, armies, and corporations have increasingly begun apologizing for their role in committing historical and contemporary harms. Although it is widely assumed that such apologies help promote intergroup forgiveness, this assumption has not been subjected to a great deal of empirical investigation, and the little research that exists presents a mixed picture. In this article, we present some of the political and ideological arguments for and against providing intergroup apologies. We then critically review the research on the outcomes of apologies, with an eye to developing concrete strategies for maximizing apology effectiveness. Drawing on these discussions, a staircase model for effective intergroup apologies is offered that has implications for social policy. Although we present some pessimism regarding the outcome of intergroup apologies, this article provides arguments for the necessity of formal intergroup apologies and for policy that maximizes their positive effects.

The Role of Apologies in Professional Discipline

We live in times of 'apology mania', says Lee Taft, or at least 'national conversation' about the role and meaning of apologies. Roy Brooks talks of an 'age of apology'. Some 10 years after these pronouncements, little has changed. Apologies are ubiquitous and debated in the public and political domain. And they continue to be used and imported into legal jurisdictions. For instance, legislation removes civil liability for saying 'sorry' in certain contexts and may reward apologies in mitigation of sentence.