Confronting national guilt openly fosters rather than hinders democratization

Evidence

I argue that the common assumption that Holocaust education and the remembrance of German guilt might be counter-productive for democratic socialization is incorrect. Instead, ongoing critical public confrontations with the negative aspects of one’s collective identity are more likely to subsidize the internalization of feelings of collective guilt and enhance the development of a self-conscious, post-nationalist collective self-image. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1229

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Directly reverses the intuition that dwelling on national shame breeds backlash; the German evidence suggests open confrontation is the democratically productive path, with repression of guilt producing its own pathologies.
• XREF: connects to: Defensive Germans superficially accept guilt while warding off latent responsibility — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1180