Trauma in world politics: Memory dynamics between different victim groups

Kathrin Bachleitner
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Kathrin Bachleitner: Department of Political Sciences, University of Salzburg, Austria

Journal of Peace Research, 2025, vol. 62, issue 3, 629-642

Abstract: While the international arena is littered with events of war and atrocities, the memory of the Holocaust was institutionalized as the ultimate benchmark of human suffering within the liberal world order. Against the backdrop of such a global memory landscape, this article explores how different memories of trauma interact. Building on literature within international relations, sociology and social psychology, as well as survey data collected from a sample of Syrians, Palestinians and Israelis, its analysis explores how victims of political violence compare their suffering with that of others and why such comparisons slip easily into competition. The analysis found that individuals were competitive with their memories when they showed high levels of patriotic attachment and a real and perceived, yet unrecognized, sense of victimhood. This article thus offers insight into a key issue in peace and conflict studies: the links between traumatic memory, victimhood, international recognition and conflict.

Keywords: competitive victimhood; international recognition; memories; political violence; social trauma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:joupea:v:62:y:2025:i:3:p:629-642

DOI: 10.1177/00223433241231868

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