Unpaid Reparations And Expropriation

UCL Uncovering Politics

There have been longstanding calls for reparations to address the profound injustices of colonialism and compensate for the vast extraction of resources from colonized nations. However, with few recent exceptions, these demands for reparations have largely been ignored by the former colonial powers. So, what comes next?

Over the past two decades, renewed interest in colonial reparations has emerged within political theory and philosophy, with a focus on assigning responsibility for redress. Yet, relatively little attention has been given to how redress might be achieved in the face of persistent colonial amnesia and apologia. In this episode Dr. Shuk Ying Chan, Assistant Professor in Political Theory at UCL Political Science, proposes a solution: expropriation (the unilateral public takeover of foreign assets) as a justified response to these overdue reparations.

In her argument, she shifts the focus from simply determining responsibility for reparative justice to exploring what victims of past injustices, or their descendants, are justified in doing to claim what they are owed. She also addresses the unique challenges of pursuing such political resistance at the global level.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Chan, S.Y. (20024) Expropriation as Reparation. American Journal of Political Science.

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