Meaningful Acknowledgement: How to Evaluate Acknowledgement in Transitional Justice Interactions using Deliberative Reciprocity?

Acknowledgment of wrongdoing is considered necessary for relationship transformation in processes of transitional justice. However, the concept has only been studied in the institutional and legal context. Its social and interpersonal dimensions at the micro level remain poorly understood. This article addresses this gap by studying interactions between ordinary citizens across ethnic lines in response to war crimes trials. The article uses deliberative reciprocity to create a novel typology to identify meaningful acknowledgement in 162 inter-ethnic exchanges derived from focus groups in four former Yugoslav countries. The study also identifies what triggers this ideal type and finds that the triggers are related to conversational changes in identity constructions and knowledge claims. But the triggers only occur when individuals also endorse each other’s views across ethnic lines. The article thus shows how relationships transform in inter-ethnic interactions, even when individuals hold differing views and arguments about transitional justice.