Guilt and Remorse

War apologies abound. In the era of a global upsurge of war memories, it is now clear that collective apology constitutes an important part of international affairs. The admittance of guilt and the sense of remorse pertain to the issue of transitional justice in postconflict situations, and they play crucial roles in the so-called politics of regret. Most simply put, a dictionary definition of guilt would entail (a) culpability, or the state of being responsible for committing an offense or crime, and (b) the feeling of the former. Remorse is a feeling of guilt, or the sense of regret arising from the guilt feeling about past wrongs. The two concepts are theoretically as well as empirically intertwined.

The recent global memory upsurge reflects the attitude of ...