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What is the true impact of an apology?

What is the true impact of an apology? A national apology may assist in achieving reconciliation, cooperation, or forgiveness after past wrongs. However, the high hopes that are held for this role are more frequently dashed than fulfilled. Japan’s history of apologies is readily comparable to other nations’ attempts to correct past wrongs. The difficulties that many countries experience in their efforts to make meaningful apologies tend to undermine the power of the act itself. Individuals and small groups in civil society can further the progress of reconciliation through an apology and other actions. However, a nation cannot act as an individual or small group. Research shows that the pragmatic factors of commerce and trade, as well as the geopolitical context, can significantly suppress the remembrance of past wrongs, allowing past enemies to work cooperatively without confronting the past. This paper takes a deliberately broad exploratory approach to examine how pragmatic policies affect the impact and success of national apologies. It also cites a case where an alleged lack of apologies can be used in an effort to heighten threat perception. Such matters have become sharply relevant in January 2023, when the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, was reported as saying, ‘The Japanese government has not apologised … they don’t accept it’s wrong and … might repeat the history.’ However, this paper also suggests that while some wrongs, such as genocide, may never be forgiven, former enemies may be able to find common ground in the context of geopolitics and economic and cultural spheres. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Contemporary Japan Taylor & Francis

What is the true impact of an apology?

Munro, Jane Crawford
Contemporary Japan , Volume OnlineFirst: 22 – Mar 9, 2023
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22 pages

What is the true impact of an apology?

Abstract

A national apology may assist in achieving reconciliation, cooperation, or forgiveness after past wrongs. However, the high hopes that are held for this role are more frequently dashed than fulfilled. Japan’s history of apologies is readily comparable to other nations’ attempts to correct past wrongs. The difficulties that many countries experience in their efforts to make meaningful apologies tend to undermine the power of the act itself. Individuals and small groups in civil...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ISSN
1869-2737
eISSN
1869-2729
DOI
10.1080/18692729.2023.2175425
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

A national apology may assist in achieving reconciliation, cooperation, or forgiveness after past wrongs. However, the high hopes that are held for this role are more frequently dashed than fulfilled. Japan’s history of apologies is readily comparable to other nations’ attempts to correct past wrongs. The difficulties that many countries experience in their efforts to make meaningful apologies tend to undermine the power of the act itself. Individuals and small groups in civil society can further the progress of reconciliation through an apology and other actions. However, a nation cannot act as an individual or small group. Research shows that the pragmatic factors of commerce and trade, as well as the geopolitical context, can significantly suppress the remembrance of past wrongs, allowing past enemies to work cooperatively without confronting the past. This paper takes a deliberately broad exploratory approach to examine how pragmatic policies affect the impact and success of national apologies. It also cites a case where an alleged lack of apologies can be used in an effort to heighten threat perception. Such matters have become sharply relevant in January 2023, when the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, was reported as saying, ‘The Japanese government has not apologised … they don’t accept it’s wrong and … might repeat the history.’ However, this paper also suggests that while some wrongs, such as genocide, may never be forgiven, former enemies may be able to find common ground in the context of geopolitics and economic and cultural spheres.

Journal

Contemporary Japan – Taylor & Francis

Published: Mar 9, 2023

Keywords: International reconciliation; national apologies; Aboriginal Australians; moral agency of states

References

  • Performing Brexit: How a post-Brexit world is imagined outside the United Kingdom”
  • The Trap of an Official Apology: The Power of Civil Society in Promoting Reconciliation
  • Cheers to closer ties – but don’t forget the war
  • After the apology (Film). Pursekey Productions
  • The Truth About John Batman
  • The British Nationality Act 1948: A brief study in the political mythology of race relations
  • This Catholic has lost her patience with the church
  • Hiroshima and the Politics of Apologising – It’s hard to say sorry when you’re doing it for a whole country
  • The Politics Behind the Story: Sixty Years on from the 1957 Australia-Japan Commerce Agreement
  • How to say sorry … and mean it
  • Mark Zuckerberg and how to get away without really saying sorry
  • The Connection Between British Exceptionalism and Brexit
  • Can “Sorry” be enough? The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald
  • Kyūjō kaisei, jieitai meiki ‘sansei’ ga 51%: Asahi Shimbun yoron chōsa [51% in support for revising Article 9, clarifying the SDF: Asahi Shimbun Public Opinion Poll]
  • A new front: Japan’s self-defence forces are beginning to focus on China
  • ‘It walks with you forever’: Mothers sue hospital that took their babies