Andreas Mehler

Restitution Governance is an emerging field within political science related to earlier efforts in memory politics. The project will look into the sustainability of such efforts, testing the relevance of grounding, replicability, multi-scalar approaches, global interconnections and historical experience. The assumed mechanisms are the following: Grounding. Restitution decisions have to be accepted both on local and national levels. Proposed solutions will not stand the test of time if they are forcefully resisted. Replicability: Too many envisaged ‘solutions’ proposed depend on continuous outside input, whether materially or by transferring expert knowledge. Homegrown cost-effective solutions and their institutionalization are potentially a way-out. Multi-scale analysis. The scaling up of colonial trauma from seemingly isolated peripheries to diaspora communities/from grievances of a population group to a supra-state configuration can be observed (bottom-up processes). But also the local effects of decisions taken say New York, Brussels or Addis Ababa need attention (top-down processes). Both processes produce relevant outcomes on the opposite end of a scale. Global interconnections. For meaningful restitution it is essential to take Africa’s and Europe’s global connections into account (trade with human remains and objects, scientific cooperation) Historical experience. Calls for restitution were voiced already relatively shortly after independence – with little success. Past experiences have their repercussions in the present and future. The project will work on the basis of an expert survey.