Join us for a PILS presentation with speaker Professor Steven Ratner of the University of Michigan Law School.

Reparations for colonialism and colonial-era atrocities have moved from an unrealized demand of citizens, politicians, and thinkers in the Global South to a project with some results in the real world.  While philosophers have shown the moral complexity of the issues -- who has a duty to whom, and for what? -- international lawyers have tried to find a legal duty to provide such reparations.  But international law doctrine makes such a duty elusive and that effort ultimately a distraction.  A more promising path to this goal would involve states negotiating ad hoc agreements providing for reparations, with significant flexibility on their terms.  Over time, a set of best practices can emerge that lead to reparations in a manner reflecting the diverse participants and harms of colonialism. 

Lunch provided.