Perceptions of the value of state apologies across countries

The growing prevalence and institutionalization of state apologies imply a shared moral consensus that countries should acknowledge and apologize for past human rights violations. Empirical evidence, however, on whether this moral expectation is shared by people across the world and whether people value state apologies in the wake of human rights violations remains limited. This is surprising, given that existing evidence on interpersonal apologies suggests that people across countries may value state apologies differently. To investigate this further, we implemented a mixed-method vignette study to systematically explore to what extent we see commonalities or differences in how people in eight culturally diverse countries ( N = 533) think about and value state apologies to or by their country. On one hand, we find that apologies (vis-à-vis other response strategies) are indeed largely seen as an appropriate course of action across all countries, whereby people report common expectations in terms of what they expect apologies to signal or achieve. On the other hand, some variation across countries and conditions is observed. People’s expectations often reflect the importance of local cultural norms, values, and practices as well as socio-political narratives and priorities, reiterating the need to consider the wider socio-cultural context when it comes to understanding how people value apologies.