CSCR webinar: Historical Acknowledgement and Global Democracy

• Date: January 16th, 2025, 4:00 pm – 7:45 pm (UTC+2)
• Venue: Zoom, hosted at Tel Aviv University - >This is the link<
• Opening: 4:00 pm
• Panel 1: 4:15 pm – 5:45
  Universal Values or Double Standards? Western Democracy Promotion and Colonial Accountability
• Panel 2: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
  Beyond Reparations: The Impact of Symbolic Remedies on Global Atonement
• Final Remarks: 7:30 pm – 7:45 pm

As a research center dedicated to advancing the understanding of conflict dynamics and seeking innovative approaches to their resolution, we are keen on bringing together distinguished experts. Below is more information and a list of our interdisciplinary and international speakers.

Feel free to share this invitation with colleagues, students, and anyone who may find this event relevant. We look forward to a diverse audience joining us in exploring the nexus of democracy and acknowledgment.

Thank you for considering our invitation, and we hope to see you soon.

Best regards,

Dmitry Yakushkin, Director CSCR, dyakushkin@tauex.tau.ac.il

Max Goetz, Researcher CSCR, cscr@tauex.tau.ac.il

Conference Outline:

Democracy is more than choosing a government. Usually, when people discuss how to “defend democracy” from its contemporary threats, the Liberal International Order (LIO) is intended. LIO stands for the combination of democracy, capitalism, and civil rights, a system that, after the Cold War, seemed to have outperformed all other competitors. In recent years, however, we have encountered various challenges from both inside and outside democratic societies.

A steadily more salient question is how the shifting relationship between the global south and north will shape our future world. Even after decolonization, many countries of the global south have depended on their former colonizers to establish stable regimes and economic and technological cooperation. With the rise of China and other competitors, both LIO as such and Western influence in developing countries are challenged. Whereas Western support is usually bound to civil rights demands, other countries offer similar cooperation without these limitations. Additionally, the self-depictions of Western states as guardians of democracy are increasingly challenged. In the light of illegal pushbacks at EU borders and geostrategic support of autocrats, European calls for more democracy are decried as hypocrisy.

The culmination of these processes is the persistently growing global voice for acknowledgment of and reparation for slavery, land dispossession, stolen cultural artifacts, and other historical injustices (often called “transitional justice”). We can observe Western states trying to adapt to the global power shift by creating new bonds with the global south. However, two questions arise: first, will the global competition with autocratic leaders lead to more Western engagement to promote liberal values and democracy, or will it result in a race to underbid each other in the search for allies and resources? Second, whether the attempt to revive LIO wouldn’t get rejected before the disputes over the shared history are resolved.

This conference aims to shed light on whether and how historical acknowledgment, perhaps also material remedies, have the potential to change countries' relationships, whether such a turn toward historical conflict resolution is wishful thinking, and what challenges LIO will face if the relationship between the “West and the Rest” further deteriorates.

The first day of the conference aims to lay the groundwork for newcomers in the field in terms of content and methodology. We want to encourage students to actively engage in this important conference. The second day will focus on scientific discussion and an in-depth exploration of the nexus of historical acknowledgment and global democracy. We bring together distinguished social sciences, humanities, law, and social psychology scholars in three panels to facilitate interdisciplinary discourse.

Panel 1: Universal Values or Double Standards? Western Democracy Promotion and Colonial Accountability.

Especially Western countries promote human rights and democracy as universal values worldwide. Nevertheless, they seem reluctant up until today, to recognize responsibility for the violence of colonialism and slavery as well as for their contemporary repercussions. On the other hand, many countries of the Global South repeatedly point to the historical responsibility of established and stable democracies when aid or other cooperation is bound to the rule of law, democratic transition, etc. Many states turn toward China’s Belt and Road Initiative and other rising powers to avoid what is labeled as hypocritical double standards. Fundamental democratic and civil rights are even dismissed as Western universalist indoctrination and interference in domestic affairs. What responsibility do Western democracies have to promote democratic values worldwide, and what strategies might be suitable?

1. Prof. Uriel Abulof will speak on how democratic backsliding is in worldwide regression and what needs to be changed in the IOs to reverse this trend. What institutions stabilize global democracy, and what is their normative anchor? Can we think of promoting and preserving democracy as an attempt to do good to people, or is the criticism of false universalism legitimate?
2. Dr. George Soroka: Focuses on memory politics in the West and in former colonies. Clashing narratives on colonialism and its destructive legacy are still disputed throughout the West. How much does the West need to alter its narrative to rebuild increasingly unstable bonds to the Global South and counter the influence of competitors like China and Russia?
3. Priv.-Doz. Dr. Janne Mende: Her research is on human rights as a part of Western dominance and Colonialism. The presentation will shed light on the nexus of normative universalism and criticism of the West for hypocrisy.
4. TBA: Due to last-minute schedule changes, our speaker on Israeli domestic politics cannot participate. We are keen to find a replacement soon.

Panel 2: Beyond Reparations: The Impact of Symbolic Remedies on Global Atonement

What impact do different forms of acknowledgment and symbolic remedies have, or is it all about reparations and apologies? As reactions to demands for material compensation, are apologies without compensation even framed negatively? What regional specifics of claims, conflicts, and motions are there? What challenges will LIO face if the West's relationship with the global south further deteriorates? Can we turn the tide towards a more democratic and just world?

1. Max Goetz: The question of reparations for slavery and the transatlantic slave trade reparations is especially salient since the African Union and CARICOM decided to unite their claims. Will the growing public knowledge and sympathy translate into financial compensation, or will the West continue to reject all material claims?
2. Dr. Agnieszka Łada-Konefał: Poland repeatedly confronted Germany with an unresolved dispute over war compensation. The new liberal Polish government takes a compromising approach toward Germany. Can this be seen as a blueprint for constructive resolution, or does it mirror the bilateral interdependence of the two governments under pressure?  
3. Rachel Tausendfreund will elaborate on the future role of the U.S. in this: The ironclad supporters and self-proclaimed defenders of democracy are not internationally approached for reparations or apologies. Domestically, the discussion on African American compensation for Slavery and Jim Crow continues, but in foreign politics, realpolitik has the upper hand. What can we expect from the new U.S. Administration?
4. Prof. Franziska Boehme: Can art restitution as a form of symbolic remedy substitute material compensation? Can we understand restitution as an honest strategy of atonement or, rather, a repetition of unilateral and paternalistic negotiations, eventually ending with unsatisfactory tokenism? Prof. Boehme will critically compare the different developments in European restitution processes.