U.S. Foreign Policy and the Politics of Apology

The idea of contrition in international relations is relatively new territory and has garnered both praise and concern. On the one hand, public apologies and other forms of contrition have become fashionable, starting with celebrity diplomats and extending to politicians and entire nation-states. Yet, while contrition may be in vogue, it is still rare, especially at the level of interstate politics. The politics of apology often impede the extension of an olive branch, let alone an admission of wrongdoing. This book looks at why this is so, and the conditions under which public apology and other forms of redress for foreign policy transgressions may well enhance a nation’s standing in the international community, especially that of a distinctly less than contrite superpower like the United States. Starting with Barack Obama’s outreach to Muslims the world over at the outset of his first administration, the book proceeds to examine key cases of US foreign policy in which apology and contrition could have made the difference between a healthy transitional justice and the ongoing clash of culture and politics that seems to drive our international affairs. Looking at three cases that cry out for contrition—the Vietnam War and its aftermath, counterrevolution efforts in Nicaragua during the 1980s, and the recent U.S. war on terror and 2003 war in Iraq—Loramy Gerstbauer puts some of the most contentious moments of U.S. foreign policy in context with contemporary debates about the politics of apology, forgiveness, and the broader question of the value of contrition for nation-states the world over.

Loramy Gerstbauer is Associate Professor of Political Science and Peace Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College.