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
Award-winning film director Kevin Macdonald
Political Divide: Mary Robinson and Michael Ignatieff
Torture, terrorism and secrets
Modernism with Ali Smith and Kevin Jackson
Richard Ford on the US Elections
Diana Athill and Philip Hensher on the dying art of handwriting
Anne Applebaum on Eastern Europe
Grimm Tales with Philip Pullman
Salman Rushdie
National Identity with Maajid Nawaz and Sir Christopher Meyer.
The 'life unlived' with Adam Phillips and Helen Dunmore
Science and Politics: Professor David Nutt and David Blunkett
WWII with Antony Beevor and Max Hastings
Grayson Perry at the Charleston Festival
Thomas Heatherwick on design and architecture
Michael Sandel on Money and Morality
Spain in Crisis
The Digital Future
Creativity: Jonah Lehrer
Iain Banks and David Hare
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