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Apologies, Regrets, and Reparations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2009

Stanley L. Engerman
Stanley L. Engerman*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0156, USA. E-mail: enge@troi.cc.rochester.edu
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Abstract

The concept of reparations-payments made for damages inflicted by one individual upon another have long been regarded as appropriate social policy. It has only been in the 20th century that the concept has been broadened to deal with evils committed in earlier generations for which payments have been requested, the most discussed of these being the request for reparations for today’s blacks for suffering attributable to slavery that ended over one hundred years ago. Other examples include payments by Germany and other European nations for crimes committed in the Second World War. Starting about 1990, there have been frequent apologies for past and present crimes, which acknowledge wrongs committed but without any financial payment. Many nations, churches, and private groups have recently made such apologies, which have seemed to come politically acceptable.

Type
Focus: Slavery
Information
European Review , Volume 17 , Issue 3-4 , October 2009 , pp. 593 - 610
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2009

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References

Notes and References

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