Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial presents a psychoanalytic exploration of blame and collective guilt in the aftermath of large-scale atrocities that cause widespread trauma and victimization. Coline Covington explores various aspects of social and collective guilt and considers how both perpetrators and victims make sense of their experiences, with particular reference to group behavior and political morality. Covington challenges the concept of collective guilt associated with the aftermath of large-scale atrocities such as the Holocaust and examines the moral pressure placed on perpetrators to exhibit guilt as part of a realignment of political power and a process of restoring social morality. Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial concludes with a chapter-length case study examining Russia’s war in Ukraine. Combining psychoanalytic ideas with political, philosophical and social theory, Who’s to Blame? Collective Guilt on Trial will be of great value to readers interested in questions of collective guilt, blame and the possibilities of atonement. It will also appeal to psychoanalysts in practice and in training, and to academics of psychoanalytic studies, political philosophy, sociology and conflict resolution.

From events at Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War II, to the trials of Slobodan Molosevic and Saddam Hussein, war crimes trials are an increasingly pervasive feature of the aftermath of conflict. This book examines the meaning of such trials and their cultural and political effects.

A legal-theoretical account of collective rights, grounded in the normative-moral view of 'value collectivism'.

Through its extensive use of primary source materials and provision of explanations, this book places readers into the context of late 17th-century Salem to shed light on one of the darkest events in American history—the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials are one of the most fascinating events in American history. Despite being commonly covered in school curricula, the nature of the trials are often misunderstood. This book enables readers to get unique perspective and insight into the nature of this event through a representative selection of primary source materials, each of which is prefaced with explanatory editorial comments. The result is a work that clarifies the belief systems and religious and social culture of 17th century Massachusetts and places them into a comprehensible context to make sense of how the Salem witch trials came to happen. The book provides an introductory overview of the Salem witch trials, which is followed by an array of primary sources that tell the Salem story in the words of both the accusers and the victims of that episode. Editorial commentary accompanies each of the documents, placing it into its historical framework and clearly explaining archaic terminology and testimony. The primary sources used in this work are drawn from the vast archive of Salem witch trial sources, including court testimonies, court depositions, commentary from journals, miscellaneous court records such as arrest and death warrants, and writings by contemporary critics of the trials. This broad and balanced mix of documents gives students of the Salem witch trials a unique sense of the extent and impact of this event on the people of colonial Massachusetts as well as the complexity of the event.

"In the past couple of decades an autonomous international system of law has aggressively developed to deal with individual criminal responsibility for the most heinous of crimes. However, the development and application of the international criminal system is mired in criticism and concern. While international criminal law is playing an increasingly important role in global politics and issues of global security, normative theory has not kept pace with the advancements in this area of law. This book examines international criminal law (ICL) from a normative perspective, setting out how individuals ought to be held accountable to the world for their contribution to atrocity. In addition to addressing the normative basis for ICL, the book provides criteria for determining the kinds of actions that should be addressed through international criminal law. It asks, and answers, how individual responsibility can be determined in the context of collectively perpetrated political crimes and whether an international criminal justice system can claim universality in a culturally plural world. The book scrutinizes the function of ICL and finally considers how the goals and purpose of international law can be best institutionally supported"--

A critical exploration of the steps taken to promote peace, reconciliation and justice in post-genocide Rwanda.