Reimagining Victory

Steven Pinker, psychologist and best-selling author of The Better Angels of our Nature, gives the long view on war and peace, and asks whether the last world war really is the last.

BBC Radio 4’s Ritula Shah speaks to Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia and member of The Elders; Martin Griffiths, UN Special Envoy for Yemen and Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, former Chairperson of the Peace Panel of the Government of the Philippines, about their varying experiences of steering a country to peace.

A panel including Jonathan Powell (former diplomat and negotiator of the Good Friday Agreement), Margaret MacMillan (historian and IWM Trustee) and Tarak Barkawi (Professor of International Relations, LSE) unpick the traditional concept of military victory and ask what it means to ‘win’ a war today, in an age of unending conflicts and protracted crises. The conversation is chaired by BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet.

Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Liberia, Nepal, Colombia - more than 1,500 peace agreements have been signed since 1990.  Rachel Clogg, (Senior Advisor, Conciliation Resources), Simon Wessely (conflict psychiatrist) and Waad Al-Kateab (director of BAFTA-winning For Sama) ask whether peace processes always mark the end of hostilities and how countries can move on in the wake of deadly violence and societal divisions. The conversation is chaired by BBC’s Middle East correspondent, Jeremy Bowen.

Should the West use military force to prevent mass atrocities? Some argue the West has a responsibility to protect civilians around the world, whilst others say the West should stop acting as a global police force. Instead of putting boots on the ground, we should be pushing for political and diplomatic solutions. Channel 4’s Lindsey Hilsum chairs a debate between Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, Director of LSE's Centre for Women, Peace and Security and CEO of the International Civil Society Action Network and David Aaronovitch, journalist and author of ‘My Family and other Communists’.  

Can cyber war really be a threat to peace, when no actual acts of physical violence are committed? Some argue that the term ‘cyber war’ itself is a misnomer, while others point to the devastating impact of increasing numbers of cyber attacks committed by states, terrorists and criminal organisations alike. The Sunday Times’ Rosamund Urwin convenes a debate between Kim Zetter, investigative reporter and author of Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon and Thomas Rid, political scientist and author of Cyber War Will Not Take Place.

A dramatic reading of a real-life conversation between Jo Berry, daughter of Sir Anthony Berry, killed in the 1984 Grand Hotel Brighton bombing, and Pat McGee, a member of the IRA who was responsible for the attack. 

Introduced by Neil Bartlett (playwright and director of 24 Hours of Peace) and Jonathan Cohen (Executive Director, Conciliation Resources)

Cast: Miranda Richardson & Steffan Rhodri

This podcast is an extract from "24 Hours of Peace" by Neil Bartlett, a Thomas Carter Projects production, staged live at the Royal Exchange Theatre  and broadcast live by Resonance FM on Remembrance Sunday 2019.

Three writers read from their work, exploring the themes discussed in the symposium. Featuring Philippe Sands, barrister and author of East West Street, Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness and Hisham Matar, author of The Return.