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1 Southampton Student L. Rev. 1 (2011)
Exploring the Collective Mea Culpa: Reconciliation between Nations and Populations

handle is hein.journals/sthmpstul1 and id is 9 raw text is: Exploring the Collective mea culpa Exploring the Collective mea culpa: Reconciliation Between Nations and Populations Josh Boughton The 'apology' is an important weapon in any politician's armoury of political rhetoric. In order to cultivate reconciliation, politicians are quick to deliver sincere apologies for wrongs that they, their governments, or their nation have committed. By considering two recent political apologies, this article seeks to explore how apologies can legitimately function on behalf of a nation. David Cameron's apology to the relatives of the victims of 'Bloody Sunday' provides us with an opportunity to revisit the debate that was provoked in 2008 with Kevin Rudd's apology to Australia's 'Stolen Generations'. By considering these apologies, this article explores the way in which collective apologies can be explained and supported. The author submits that all citizens of a nation can legitimately participate in a collective apology through experiencing a sense of national responsibility. The author further submits that this responsibility is founded on privilege: being privileged enough to be able to enjoy the triumphs in your nation's history means that you must also accept the failures. The author concedes that while apologies can be effective in reconciling relationships and ameliorating the present, they must not be overestimated; they cannot exist in a vacuum. Apologies must be accompanied by additional factors in order to function as effective vehicles for reconciliation and justice Introduction Apologies are an integral part of modern social discourse; from the brief 'sorry' that we offer as we brush past another individual to the more sincere 'I am sorry for the way I acted'. Aside from their role as a basic social mechanism, apologies have been used in recent years to embody a much more profound political purpose. Apologies have been employed by numerous politicians to express regret and remorse for wrongs that they, their government, or their nation have committed. For example, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to Australia's Aboriginal population in relation to the 'Stolen Generations' attracted a great deal of attention from indigenous and non-indigenous Australians alike. More recently, the notion of the apology as a method of reconciliation was brought to the forefront of public attention with David Cameron's apology to the relatives of the victims of 'Bloody Sunday'. This high profile and very public example provides a new opportunity to examine the question of whether apologies issued on behalf of 1 S.S.L.R. Vol. 1

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