Distrusting adversaries should build trust before attempting past-focused apologies.

Evidence

On a practical level, these findings indicate that if relations between adversaries are characterized by distrust, apologies may exacerbate intergroup conflict rather than reduce it. Under these conditions, the parties should embark on the slower, but perhaps safer, path of trust-building reconciliation and only move on to address the past through processes of socio-emotional reconciliation once a minimal degree of trust has been attained. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1523

Categorization

• SEED: A direct angle: ‘the apology that backfires’ — practical conditions under which public apologies from powerful nations to weaker ones cause harm rather than healing.
• XREF: connects to: Intergroup apologies can make relations worse without preexisting trust. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1487; Active conflict makes apologies self-defeating for those who offer them. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1547; Trust requires repeated encounters, memory, costly honesty, and earned reputation — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 878

Broader Connections

• Trust requires repeated encounters, memory, costly honesty, and earned reputation #expands (0.80) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 878