Payback Time: Historical injustices and reparations
Choose a starting date
Learning modes and locations may be different depending on the course start date. Please check the location of your chosen course and read our guide to learning modes and locations to help you choose the right course for you.
- Start Date: 22 Nov 2025End Date: 29 Nov 2025Sat (Daytime): 10:30 - 13:15In PersonFull fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00
Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Centre for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.
What is the course about?
Reparations are a form of compensation for historical injustice. Among the more well-known reparation programmes are those for victims of the Nazi Holocaust and for Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II. The call for reparations for historical injustices are growing ever louder on the ground that these injustices have filtered down through generations and have a direct and devastating impact on the present: enriching the descendants of the oppressors while continuing the trauma of the descendants of the oppressed. It is argued that without accounting for and materially addressing the accumulated impact of past harms, societies are destined to perpetuate them.
The course will start by discussing the meaning and purpose of reparations, look at the major reparation schemes and briefly review the international law regarding reparations. We will then investigate some of the main questions around the reparations debate: what are the arguments for and against reparations? Are reparations an adequate or viable solution to addressing past and ongoing harms? If so, what form should reparations take? To whom is the responsibility owed and who will bear the cost? How should the reparation schemes be designed? And who should be included in the reparations debate?
What will we cover?
- What are reparations?
- Overview of the reparation schemes globally
- Theories and arguments for and against reparations
- Principles relating to state responsibility and reparation in international law
- How reparation schemes should be structured?
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Rework the reparations debate in a more nuanced and thoughtful manner
- Understand how questions of race and national belonging have informed contemporary debates on reparations
- Explore the connections between current realities of oppression and marginalisation and historical injustices
- Discuss the way contemporary movements can -- or ought to -- address economic and social inequities between the Global North and South.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
This course is introductory and everyone is welcome.
Even though prior knowledge of the subject of politics would be beneficial, there are no prior requirements or skills to the course. Having an interest to the subject matter and current affairs is important though.
A good grasp of English, an open mind, and a willingness to listen to different views are all that is required.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
There will be a combination of lectures, a wide range of PowerPoint slides and discussion and debates. A number of articles will be available for discussion purposes.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
No additional costs, but you may wish to bring pen and paper for notetaking.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
HPC185 Climate Justice: Creating a more equal world
HPC187 Foreign Aid: panacea or poison?
HPC150 Global South and its Debt Burden: Modern-day Enslavement.
Tariq Hassan is an associate professor and has taught at several universities in London, the US, Pakistan and Ukraine. He has a background in economics and political science with degrees from London School of Economics and the University of California in Los Angeles alongside a long career as a consultant across several sectors. At City Lit, Tariq teaches courses that link politics, economics and history, exploring big questions with deep histories with a focus rooted in the Global South.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.