Terribly and Terrifyingly Normal?

In her new book on perpetrators of mass atrocities, professor Alette Smeulers provides a typology of perpetrators. In this episode, she argues that this typology helps with creating a nuanced view of perpetrators and she explains why that is so important. We further discuss her motivation in doing research and shortly look back on the first season of our podcast.

Genocides are amongst the most unimaginable crimes in existence but they might not be a thing of the past. Alex Hinton is an anthropologist and genocide expert from Rutgers University and argues that even in the United States political violence, including genocides, could take place. Together with him, we identify the risk factors present in the United States, discuss the role of Donald Trump in creating a possibly dangerous environment, and outline the possible solutions to guard against genocide.

Jessica Stern is a renowned expert on terrorism from Boston University. During her career, she has interviewed dozens of perpetrators including Radovan Karadžić. She wrote a book about the interviews with him, which received a lot of criticism. Most strikingly, she has received allegations of genocide denial. In this episode, Jessica explains she does not deny the genocide but wishes she had done some things differently in her book. She also talks about the insights she gained from other interviews with terrorists.

The international criminal court has ordered an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but for what exactly? And how likely is it that he will actually face charges? In today’s episode, we discuss these and related questions with Sergey Vasiliev. He is an expert on international law from the University of Amsterdam. He argues that it is unlikely that Putin will be prosecuted by the ICC soon, but that the court still plays an important role in the war in Ukraine.

Attacking a music festival, killing civilians, and bombing hospitals. They are all horendous happenings in the war between Hamas and Israel. Are all of them clear violations of international law or is the truth more complicated than that? In this episode, we discuss the war with professor Marcel Brus from the University of Groningen. We discuss the polarization of both sides, what's needed to stop the war, and the rules that have to be followed during the conflict.

Not all perpetrators are 'normal'. Some are narcissists or psychopaths. In today's epsiode, we mostly focus on this latter group, specifically in relation to their conscience. Do psychopaths have one? How does it affect their actions? Are people born as a psychopath or are psychopaths products of their environments? Marijana Vujosevic is a university lecturer of moral and political philosophy at the Institute for Philosophy and helps us find the answers.

This is Terribly and Terribly Normal? A podcast series on the perpetrators of mass atrocities by Nicola Quaedvlieg and Alette Smeulers.

The distinction between perpetrators and victims of mass atrocities may seem clear. However, in reality, some people are both victims and perpetrators at the same time. In this episode, we discuss two such examples, namely that of Dominic Ongwen and Ans van Dijk. What is their story? Can they be blamed for their crimes? And how should criminal law account for such cases? We do so together with Professor of Law Mark Drumbl.

Trading weapons, selling hostages and privatizing armies: war is a booming business. But how big is the role of money in mass atrocities? Together with Annika van Baar, who is an assistant professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, we discuss this question. We’ll try to find out the profitability of human rights violations and analyze situations ranging from those involving Nazi Germany and the Wagner group to companies like Facebook and Shell.

Adolf Eichmann was one of the main executioners of the genocide during the Second World War. He is the personification of the banality of evil, the famous phrase Hannah Arendt used to describe him. In today's session, we discuss Eichman and others like Duch, the director of the Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Pen in Cambodia during the genocidal reign of the Khmer Rouge together with Dr. Thijs Bouwknegt from the NIOD.