Breaking the Cycles of Hatred

Memory, Law, and Repair

Martha Minow, Nancy L. Rosenblum, Nancy Rosenblum

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780691096636, 9780691096629
• eBook ISBN: 9781400825387
• Topic: Diritto
• Subtopic: Giurisprudenza

Violence so often begets violence. Victims respond with revenge only to inspire seemingly endless cycles of retaliation. Conflicts between nations, between ethnic groups, between strangers, and between family members differ in so many ways and yet often share this dynamic. In this powerful and timely book Martha Minow and others ask: What explains these cycles and what can break them? What lessons can we draw from one form of violence that might be relevant to other forms? Can legal responses to violence provide accountability but avoid escalating vengeance? If so, what kinds of legal institutions and practices can make a difference? What kinds risk failure?



Breaking the Cycles of Hatred represents a unique blend of political and legal theory, one that focuses on the double-edged role of memory in fueling cycles of hatred and maintaining justice and personal integrity. Its centerpiece comprises three penetrating essays by Minow. She argues that innovative legal institutions and practices, such as truth commissions and civil damage actions against groups that sponsor hate, often work better than more conventional criminal proceedings and sanctions. Minow also calls for more sustained attention to the underlying dynamics of violence, the connections between intergroup and intrafamily violence, and the wide range of possible responses to violence beyond criminalization.


A vibrant set of freestanding responses from experts in political theory, psychology, history, and law examines past and potential avenues for breaking cycles of violence and for deepening our capacity to avoid becoming what we hate. The topics include hate crimes and hate-crimes legislation, child sexual abuse and the statute of limitations, and the American kidnapping and internment of Japanese Latin Americans during World War II. Commissioned by Nancy Rosenblum, the essays are by Ross E. Cheit, Marc Galanter, Fredrick C. Harris, Judith Lewis Herman, Carey Jaros, Frederick M. Lawrence, Austin Sarat, Ayelet Shachar, Eric K. Yamamoto, and Iris Marion Young.

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• 1 Breaking the Cycles of Hatred
• 2 Justice and the Experience of Injustice
• 3 Righting Old Wrongs
• 4 Reluctant Redress: The U.S. Kidnapping and Internment of Japanese Latin Americans
• 5 Memory, Hate, and the Criminalization of Bias-Motivated Violence: Lessons from Great Britain
• 6 Collective Memory, Collective Action, and Black Activism in the 1960s
• 7 Beyond Memory: Child Sexual Abuse and the Statute of Limitations
• 8 Peace on Earth Begins at Home: Reflections from the Women’s Liberation Movement
• 9 The Thin Line between Imposition and Consent: A Critique of Birthright Membership Regimes and Their Implications
• 10 When Memory Speaks: Remembrance and Revenge in Unforgiven
• 11 Power, Violence, and Legitimacy: A Reading of Hannah Arendt in an Age of Police Brutality and Humanitarian Intervention
• NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS