Abstract :
Jean-Marc Coicaud’s article begins by stressing the contemporary importance and
the current trend of political apology. Recent political apologies offered in Australia and
Canada to their indigenous populations form a significant part of this story. He then
analyzes a number of intriguing paradoxes at the core of the dynamics of apology. These
paradoxes give meaning to apology but also make the very idea of apology extremely
challenging. They have to do with the relationships of apology with time, law and
the unforgivable. The most intriguing of these paradoxes concerns apology and the
unforgivable. Indeed, the greater the wrong, the more valuable the apology. But, then,
the more difficult it becomes to issue and to accept an apology. This latter paradox is
namely examined in the context of mass crimes, taken from Europe, Africa and Asia.
As a whole these paradoxes are all the more intriguing considering what apology in a
political context aims to accomplish, for the actor who issues the apology, for the one
who receives it, for their relationship, and for the social environment in which this takes
place. Jean-Marc Coicaud concludes his article by outlining what the rise of apology
means for contemporary political culture.
