Criminal justice does not solve the problem simply because it does not clearly identify the criminals. It only looks at the end without identifying the means by which criminality has been created. A political solution on the other hand studies the context from which criminality has been created and addresses the impending issues. There is no where in the world where criminal justice has achieved a solution but at least in Africa there is a master piece of how political justice thrives over criminal justice. South Africa is a master piece which South Sudan can heavily bank on, in its pathe to everlasting placids.

This event took place at the British Academy 30 March 2017.

Renowned author and commentator on African politics and society Mahmood Mamdani will consider How should we think of justice? Lessons from South Sudan.

The demand for an end to impunity is today at the forefront of the call for an international regime of criminal justice. There are two problems with this demand: the first is that it translates the call for a universal norm into a 'one-size-fits-all' prescription, regardless of context; the second is that it reduces all violence to criminal violence, making it a matter of strictly individual responsibility. Mahmood’s objective in this lecture will be to distinguish criminal from political violence and criminal from political justice and explain the stakes involved in not doing so.

Speaker:
Professor Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University and Director, Makerere Institute of Social Research, Kampala

Global Perspectives How Should We Think Of Justice

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Global Perspectives How Should We Think Of Justice

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