The politics of reparations and apologies: The differential application of restorative justice following stat atrocity

Today, it is nearly a given that groups seeking redress or reparation for past wrongs will receive some fonn of justice. Groups wronged by states often seek and receive apologies and compensation, to the point that it is now worthy of discussion when groups do not receive some form of compensation or acknowledgement. Yet how did this widespread acceptance of redress and reparation emerge? This thesis seeks an answer to this question, while also seeking to understand why it is that different groups, having experienced similar atrocities, have received varying degrees of redress. In order to do so, this thesis examines three countries and two victimised groups within each state-sponsored atrocity. In Germany, the Nazi government perpetrated genocide upon both Jews and Roma; in the United States, Japanese Americans and Japanese Latin Americans were both interned during World War II and, in the third case study, the Japanese military systematically enslaved and raped both Korean and Dutch women within occupied territories. In each of these cases, one victimised group bad more relative success in achieving redress and reparation than the other. This thesis thus considers the key historical background to the various social movements, the development of the social movements themselves and the gradual emergence of international norms and political opportunities which have combined to encourage what is today known as the redress and reparation movement. The thesis also seeks to determine factors which explain the differential success of social movements of groups which have experienced similar atrocities.