Memories in Conflict: Persuasion in Transitional Justice Museums

• In Event: Experimental Research About Attitudes Toward Pluralism and Discrimination

Abstract

Do transitional justice museums persuade visitors? Evidence from a field experiment at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Chile, suggests that visiting increases support for democratic institutions and victim-centered restorative transitional justice policies and reduces satisfaction with the military and police. Many of the results endure for up to six months after the visit. To probe the generalizability of these results, we propose to replicate our initial research design in Northern Ireland and Colombia. In contrast to Chile, where political violence primarily took the form of state repression, Northern Ireland and Colombia experienced internal conflict with violence waged by state and non-state actors. As in Chile, we focus on how museum visits in these contexts affect two key dependent variables: 1) appropriate transitional justice policies to advance reconciliation and 2) perceptions and blameworthiness of various groups responsible for perpetrating violence. We expect results to differ in Colombia, where society is in the midst of an unfolding peace process and visitors may have lived through the conflict, and Northern Ireland, where the museum recounts a conflict whose peace process concluded a couple decades ago. Visitors in Northern Ireland may be more receptive to the museum’s messaging than in Colombia, though the museum in Colombia is more likely to affect contemporary politics.

Authors

• Elsa Voytas, Princeton University

• Laia Balcells, Georgetown University