The legal framework to prosecute war crimes and prohibit the use of ‘aggressive war’ came out of the international war crimes tribunals after WWII – in Germany and Japan. In Judgement at Tokyo the academic and writer Gary J. Bass retells the dramatic courtroom battles as Japan’s militaristic leaders were held accountable for their crimes. With prosecutors and judges drawn from eleven different Allied countries tensions flared, and justice in the Asia Pacific played out amidst the start of the Cold War, China's descent into civil war, and the end of the European empires.
The political philosopher Hannah Arendt witnessed the end of the trial of the Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1963, coining the phrase ‘the banality of evil’ – a term that is often mistakenly believed to mean that evil had become ordinary. In We Are Free To Change The World, the writer Lyndsey Stonebridge explores Arendt’s writings on power and terror, love and justice, and their relevance in today’s uncertain times.
As the world grows increasingly turbulent war crimes justice is needed more than ever, but it appears to be failing. Since the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands opened in 2002 it has jailed just five war criminals. The journalist and war reporter Chris Stephen looks back at its history and examines alternative options in The Future of War Crimes Justice.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Police drama with playwright Roy Williams
AL Kennedy and David Sedaris on matters of the heart
Faisal I of Iraq and the making of the modern Middle East
Decision-making with Daniel Kahneman and Michael Ignatieff
Andrew Hussey on the legacy of France's Arab Empire
The Vikings and Seafaring
Adair Turner on the Politics of Finance
Vanessa Feltz and Susie Orbach on Confession
Irving Finkel on the Ark Tablet
Spying and Surveillance: The Snowden Files
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Neuroscience and Free Will
Unity and Disunity
Michael Gove on teaching history
Clive James
Josie Rourke on strategy and Coriolanus
The Building Blocks of Life and Intelligence
Landscape and Community
Bianca Jagger on human rights
Gandhi's Early Years
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Global News Podcast
The Infinite Monkey Cage
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins