Inaugural address Juliette Schaafsma: ‘Political Apologies between a Burdened Past and a Loaded Future’

Juliette Schaafsma delivered her inaugural address on 15 June, 2018 in the Auditorium of Tilburg University, the Netherlands. In her address, titled Political Apologies between a Burdened Past and a Loaded Future, she argued that political apologies are much more complicated than personal apologies, and can even be counterproductive. She also made the case, however, that we may not have many alternative pathways available to transform conflict and human rights abuses into a more peaceful future. In her project, she aspires to gain more insight into the pitfalls and the potential transformative power of political apologies across cultures.