Why have most former colonies never officially sought reparations?

The king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, apologised in July 2023 for his ancestors’ role in the colonial slave trade.

He is not alone in expressing remorse for past wrongs. In 2021, France returned 26 works of art seized by French colonial soldiers in Africa – the largest restitution France has ever made to a former colony. In the same year, Germany officially apologised for its 1904-’08 genocide of the Herero and Nama people of Namibia and paid reparations.

This is, some political scientists have observed, the “age of apology” for past wrongs. Reams of articles, particularly in Western media, are devoted to former coloniser countries and whether they have enacted redress – returned museum artifacts, paid reparations or apologised for past wrongs.

Yet this is rarely the result of official requests. In fact, very few former colonies have officially – that is, government to government – pressed perpetrators to redress past injustices.

My analysis found that governments in 78% of such cases have not asked to be compensated for historical acts of injustice against them. As a scholar of international relations who has studied the effect of colonialism on the present-day foreign policy of countries affected, I found this puzzling. Why don’t more victim states press for intercountry redress?

The answer lies in the fact that colonial pasts and atoning for injustices are controversial –...

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