ABSTRACT
Agents who possess reparative responsibilities in authoritarian states can and should seek to act upon them, where possible. In particular, there exist three core sets of first-order responsibilities – to compensate, to oppose, and to apologise over and commemorate injustices. These are in turn complemented by second-order responsibilities to advance reforms that can reduce the costs and improve the feasibility of such actions for other responsible agents. There exist prescriptions generated by the CAM that are neither infeasible nor too costly, which are exemplified by the efforts and successes of politicians, activists, and other non-state actors advocating changes in contemporary authoritarian states. Yet discharging reparative responsibilities in authoritarian contexts will behove pragmatism cognisant of political and sociological constraints – as manifested through a willingness to advance gradualist and carefully crafted reforms, as opposed to fixating upon radical, structural overhaul, which rarely leads to constructive or desirable outcomes.
