Looking forward to the past: An interdisciplinary discussion on the use of historical analogies and their effects

Ghilani, Djouaria; Luminet, Olivier; Erb, Hans‐Peter; Flaßbeck, Christine; Rosoux, Valérie; Tames, Ismee; Klein, Olivier

doi:10.1177/1750698017701609

Cited by 42 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Historical analogies play four different roles for people engaged in conflict resolution: they shape and communicate the representation of the current situation, define the role of the actors in that situation, shape the decision-making process by anchoring it in previous decisions, and serve as a means of persuasion (Ghilani et al, 2017). This persuasive aspect of historical analogies has been subtly used in the Round Table agreements by the governmental side, but it never had a fundamental role in the negotiation process.…”

Section: Why Historical Closure Could Be Beneficial Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving beyond the past: The role of historical closure in conflict resolution

Bilewicz

2020

Soc. Psychol. Bull.

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This article discusses the role of historical closure in conflict resolution and reconciliation, departing from the example of the Polish Round Table negotiations in 1989. The concept of a “thick line” (“Gruba kreska” or “Schlussstrich”) was used in several historical contexts, showing the intention to detach from history when resolving pressing current societal issues. Historical evidence suggests that it was an intentionally chosen strategy by both sides taking part in the Round Table negotiations in 1989. Historical closure is known to have good consequences for building mutual trust, improving attitudes and making contact interventions more effective in improving intergroup relations. This is mostly attributed to the fact that historical crimes can have a long-standing impact on intergroup relations: past victimhood and perpetratorship lead to current grievances, denial, and mistrust. Only when these historical roles are overcome can both parties achieve any agreement. At the same time, historical closure breeds a sense of injustice among political followers and gives birth to numerous conspiracy theories. This article analyzes these problems in the Polish context and beyond.

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Section: Why Historical Closure Could Be Beneficial Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving beyond the past: The role of historical closure in conflict resolution

Bilewicz

2020

Soc. Psychol. Bull.

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“…In commemorative practices, social identity processes can occur through the ways that leaders selectively remember events and give meaning to them, defining their group, its interests, and its norms (Liu, Wilson, Mcclure, & Higgins, ). During commemoration, leaders can mobilize their audiences by drawing selectively on shared historical representations to legitimize particular political agendas (Liu et al ., ), as through analogies, for example (Ghilani et al ., ). Historical representations constitute part of the fabric of the social reality for any group of people (Hilton & Liu, ), and memory can collectively communicate solidarity and coherence (Hammack & Pilecki, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…This use of 1974 provides a historical analogy between the people who fought in 1974 and SYRIZA in the 21st century. As Aristotle knew, such analogies use the past to make sense of political uncertainty in the present (Ghilani et al ., ). By calling audiences to imagine such similarities between 1974 and SYRIZA here, historical analogies lend plausibility to suggestions to widen both democracy and political and social rights (6–7, 2008), by which means the party might fulfil its duty, or repays its debts, to the past.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Commemoration in crisis: A discursive analysis of who ‘we’ and ‘they’ have been or become in ceremonial political speeches before and during the Greek financial downturn

Gkinopoulos

Hegarty

2018

British J Social Psychol

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This study analyses the discourse of statements of the leaders of two Greek political parties commemorating the restoration of Greek democracy on 24 July 1974; the ruling party New Democracy and the opposition, Coalition of the Radical Left. We focus on how these leaders act as entrepreneurs of their identities by constructing their ingroups in broad or narrow terms and their outgroups in vague or specific terms. These constructions were ventured during a period of relative political stability (2008) and instability (2012), and we focus on how ingroup prototypes and group boundaries are narrated across Greece's past, present and future in ambiguous or concrete terms. The study aligns the social identity approach to political leadership with studies on political discourse and 'the rhetoric of we'. We view commemorative statements as historical charters and respond to calls for discourse analysis to take greater account of historical context. The findings suggest concrete hypotheses about how leaders with different amounts of political support might define, as identity entrepreneurs, who 'we' are, and who 'we' are not in democratic contexts marked by stability or crisis.

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“…In particular, this focus can obscure the operation of collective motivation and agency via the intentionality of cultural practices. Reminders about the 9/11 attacks do not happen at random; instead, they more typically occur in the context of commemoration practices that creators have deliberately designed to afford remembering (Ghilani et al, 2017). Although many people make deliberate choices to engage in 9/11 commemoration practices, they also encounter them (and reminders about 9/11 attacks) in more inadvertent fashion without explicit intention to do so or despite explicit preferences otherwise.…”

Section: Conclusion: Implications For Conceptions Of Collectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Collective memory as tool for intergroup conflict: The case of 9/11 commemoration

Hakim

Adams

2018

J. Soc. Polit. Psych.

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We apply a cultural psychology approach to collective memory of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In particular, we considered whether practices associated with commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks would promote vigilance (prospective affordance hypothesis) and misattribution of responsibility for the original 9/11 attacks (reconstructive memory hypothesis) in an ostensibly unrelated context of intergroup conflict during September 2015. In Study 1, vigilance toward Iran and misattribution of responsibility for the 9/11 attacks to Iranian sources was greater among participants whom we asked about engagement with 9/11 commemoration than among participants whom we asked about engagement with Labor Day observations. Results of Study 2 suggested that patterns of greater vigilance and misattribution as a function of instructions to recall engagement with 9/11 commemoration were more specifically true only of participants who reported actual engagement with hegemonic commemoration practices. From a cultural psychological perspective, 9/11 commemoration is a case of collective memory not merely because it implicates collective-level (versus personal) identities, but instead because it emphasizes mediation of motivation and action via engagement with commemoration practices and other cultural tools.

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Looking forward to the past: An interdisciplinary discussion on the use of historical analogies and their effects

Cited by 42 publications

References 40 publications

Moving beyond the past: The role of historical closure in conflict resolution

Moving beyond the past: The role of historical closure in conflict resolution

Commemoration in crisis: A discursive analysis of who ‘we’ and ‘they’ have been or become in ceremonial political speeches before and during the Greek financial downturn

Collective memory as tool for intergroup conflict: The case of 9/11 commemoration

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