Transitional justice practices frequently involve public apologies where former combatants confess their wrongdoings and ask for forgiveness, with the underlying assumption that such displays facilitate the reintegration of ex-combatants into society. However, little is known about the public response to ex-combatant apologies. In this article, we investigate the causal effect of an armed group apology on attitudes toward ex-combatant reintegration in Colombia. Our study builds on a novel experiment implemented in Meta, a conflict-ridden department of Colombia. The experiment entailed exposing a subset of participants to a video in which a former rebel group leader apologizes for violent acts committed by their armed group during the civil war. To examine the extent to which external actors influence the effectiveness of apologies, we incorporated third-party ‘encouragements to forgive’ (endorsements) in two additional treatment conditions. Our analysis demonstrates that, on average, participants do not exhibit higher reintegration attitudes when exposed to the apology, regardless of third-party endorsements. However, the absence of a treatment effect is not due to an indifference to the apology. In an exploratory heterogeneity analysis, we show that the apology induces negative effects on some indicators of reintegration attitudes among participants that did not support the peace agreement. This finding aligns with qualitative data gathered in a follow-up survey, which indicates that opponents of the peace agreement generally describe negative emotional responses to the FARC-EP apology. The results call for a reconsideration of unchallenged prescriptions of public apologies after conflict.

中文翻译：

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道歉是否促进了前战斗人员的重返社会？哥伦比亚视频实验的经验教训


过渡时期司法实践通常涉及公开道歉，前战斗人员承认他们的错误行为并请求宽恕，其基本假设是这种展示有助于前战斗人员重新融入社会。然而，人们对公众对前战斗人员道歉的反应知之甚少。在本文中，我们调查了武装团体道歉对哥伦比亚前战斗人员重返社会的态度的因果效应。我们的研究建立在哥伦比亚冲突频发的 Meta 省实施的一项新实验之上。该实验需要让一部分参与者观看一段视频，其中一位前叛乱组织领导人为他们的武装组织在内战期间犯下的暴力行为道歉。为了研究外部行为者在多大程度上影响道歉的有效性，我们在两个额外的处理条件中加入了第三方“鼓励宽恕”（认可）。我们的分析表明，平均而言，无论第三方是否认可，参与者在接受道歉时都不会表现出更高的重返社会态度。然而，没有治疗效果并不是因为对道歉的漠不关心。在探索性异质性分析中，我们表明，道歉对不支持和平协议的参与者的重返社会态度的某些指标产生了负面影响。这一发现与后续调查中收集的定性数据一致，该调查表明，和平协议的反对者通常描述了对 FARC-EP 道歉的负面情绪反应。结果要求重新考虑冲突后公开道歉的未受质疑的规定。