Sorry states : apologies in international politics

Are apologies and other acts of contrition necessary to reduce threat and build trust between former adversaries? This has become an accepted conventional wisdom, despite the fact that the effects of contrition have not yet been tested. This dissertation outlines and tests an "apology theory" of international politics, thus contributing to debates within international relations theory about the role of intentions in threat perception between states, as well as to policy debates about the role of contrition in peace building. The apology theory posits that a state's "policies of remembrance" affect perception of its intentions in the eyes of other states, and thus influence the degree to which others see it as threatening. According to the theory, apologies foster perception of benign intentions and thus reduce threat perception. I test the apology theory in two empirical case studies: South Korean threat perception of Japan and French threat perception of Germany, both since World War II. To determine whether my findings appear valid in other cases, I conduct three "mini-cases": Chinese and Australian perceptions of Japan, and British perceptions of Germany. The study has three principal findings. First, the Japan case shows that denial of past violence (unapologetic remembrance) is pernicious for bilateral relations; it fuels distrust and increases threat perception between states. Acknowledgement of past violence is vital for former adversaries to establish productive and friendly relations. Second, the European case shows that moving beyond acknowledgement of past violence--undertaking extensive policies of contrition--yields little benefit. When the French discuss their perceptions of

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Political Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Lind, Jennifer M., 1969-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Barry R. Posen.

• Political Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28500

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/28500