The bombing of civilians has been called one of the "great scandals" of modern warfare. So why, despite nearly a century of drafting laws and signing conventions protecting the sanctity of human life, does bombing civilians remain a widespread military tactic? IDEAS producer Naheed Mustafa looks at a century of bombing civilians to try and answer that very question.

Guests in this episode:

Yuki Tanaka is a historian and emeritus research professor of history at the Hiroshima Peace Institute.

Mark Selden is senior research associate in the East Asia program at Cornell University, and the founder of Asia-Pacific Journal.

Azmat Khan is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and an investigative journalist with the New York Times.