The Power of the Persecuted: Why Governments Create Domestic Reparations Programs

Author/Contributor(s):	Greenstein, Claire
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Date:	09/18/2026
Binding:	Hardcover
Condition:	NEW

After governments commit human rights abuses against their own citizens, what motivates these governments to pay reparations? It is puzzling that any government would do this--after all, victims of human rights abuses were powerless enough that the government was able to persecute them. This book argues that the answer to this puzzle is victims' organizations. Via three detailed case studies, this book uses original interview data and archival documents to show that when victims' organizations mobilize and exert sustained pro-reparations pressure, even reluctant democratic governments promise and pay reparations for their crimes.