By Dr. David Comerford, University of Stirling — The Conversation UK — 28 May 2021
Germany has agreed to pay Namibia more than €1 billion (£940 million) in reparations for committing genocide during its colonial occupation of the country a century ago — a landmark deal that will create a 30-year programme of investment in infrastructure, healthcare and training programmes. Negotiations had been ongoing since 2015; Germany’s initial offer of €10 million was rejected by Namibia as insultingly low.
Behavioural science offers insights into why reparations negotiations are so difficult. A key hurdle is estimating harm: even where the historic record is unambiguous, the data required to accurately assess harm is rarely available, and some harms — such as the emotional distress of descendants or the pervasive legacy of racism — are near impossible to quantify. A second challenge is that people tend to overestimate their own burden relative to others’, making division of compensation contentious. Experimental economics also shows that people routinely reject offers they perceive as insultingly low, even when accepting would make them materially better off — the “ultimatum game” effect. Philosopher Leif Wenar advocates that reparations should serve the function of improving future relations rather than simply compensating for past wrongs.