Should nations try to atone for their sins, including those that were committed by previous generations, through the offering of an apology? In the past decades, this question has become particularly urgent, as calls for state apologies have increasingly been made by victims of human rights violations or their descendants. 
Since the end of the Cold War, a growing number of states across the world have also responded to such calls. But state apologies are often controversial as well and raise important questions. For example, can current generations be held responsible for the sins of their ancestors? And are such gestures a viable reconciliatory tool in the aftermath of gross human rights violations? Or are they insincere and trivial gestures that primarily serve the needs and interests of those in power? Juliette Schaafsma investigates how people think about collective responsibility, reconciliation, and state apologies, and how such gestures are expressed and interpreted across the globe.