Does it still make sense to talk about political forgiveness?

Abstract

Does it make sense to talk about political forgiveness in the 21st century? Throughout this paper we maintain that it is possible to claim a political sense of forgiveness that, in practice, has been overshadowed by the various amnesty laws implemented in recent decades in the Latin American context that constitute a misuse of forgiveness. Based on the reflections of Hannah Arendt and Jacques Derrida on forgiveness, in conjunction with the postulates of J. L. Austin and J. Searle’s speech act theories, we acknowledge a sense of political forgiveness that substantially differs from amnesty. In order to do this, we identify both procedural and contextual conditions that must be taken into consideration. When these conditions are met, forgiveness can be regarded to be an act of true political reconciliation.