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In light of the recent steps Belgium has made towards reconciling with its colonial history in Congo (e.g., the King’s letter of regret, and the removal of some colonial statues), we examined how Belgians differ in their attitudes towards an official apology, towards (symbolic) reparations (e.g., renaming streets), and towards raising more awareness about the colonial past (e.g., more detailed information in educational books) as a function of their ideological worldviews. We hypothesized that authoritarianism and group dominance would negatively predict these outcome variables, while particularly universal-diverse orientation and egalitarianism would predict them positively. We further hypothesized that these relations would be mediated by relevant intergroup emotions (i.e., group-based guilt, shame, and anger, and especially outgroup empathy). Path model analyses on a sample of 258 Flemish-speaking students provided support for our predictions: (1) universal-diverse orientation was the strongest predictor of all intergroup emotions, (2) empathy—and to a lesser extent group-based anger—were the strongest direct predictors of attitudes towards apologizing, reparation, and awareness, and (3) empathy was the most important mediator explaining the associations of universal-diverse and egalitarian orientations with the outcomes. We discuss the implications of our findings for the current debate regarding reconciliation between groups with a history of colonialism. Keywords: ideological worldviews, intergroup emotions, repair, apology, awareness, Belgium, Congo How to Cite: Van Assche, J., Roets, A., Haesevoets, T., & Noor, M. (2021). “Sorry for Congo, Let’s Make Amends”: Belgians’ Ideological Worldviews Predict Attitudes Towards Apology and Reparation for its Colonial Past. International Review of Social Psychology, 34(1), 23. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/irsp.486 Handling Editors: Theofilos Gkinopoulos, University of Crete, GR Contact: About Theofilos Theofilos Gkinopoulos is a Research Fellow at the University of Greenwich, Institute for Lifecourse Development. His research interests fall into the area of social and political psychology, and the interplay between personal and social identity in explanations of sociopolitical phenomena. X close Thia Sagherian-Dickey, Tilburg University, NL Contact: X close Juliëtte Schaafsma Tilburg University, NL X close 198 Views 48 Downloads 7 Twitter   Published on 20 Aug 2021 Peer Reviewed  CC BY 4.0  Accepted on 26 May 2021            Submitted on 28 Jul 2020 Belgium has a peculiar colonial history. By the time the country became independent in 1830, most other European powers already had colonies. From 1840 to 1850, Belgium’s first king, Leopold I, made several unfruitful attempts to acquire overseas territories. A deal to colonize the Kingdom of Hawaii fell apart (Hunnewell 1869), and an effort to settle in Guatemala did not last long (Feys 2003), but these endeavors sparked the colonial enthusiasm in his son, King Leopold II. Because the Belgian government viewed colonial expansion as economically and politically risky, Leopold II pursued his ambitions without the support of the government after he was crowned (Ewans, 2017).

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