Sunday, April 06, 2008

Transcript: Torture and Democracy

Professor Darius Rejali gives a comprehensive view of the issue of tourture, as he discusses latest book Torture and Democracy.

"For a very long time, Western democracies have upheld the international ban on torture and have publicly criticized governments that violate it. Although many choose to believe that torture was only a tool of dictatorships, you may be surprised to learn that as the 20th century progressed, many democracies became quite adept in engaging in the systematic infliction of physical torment on detained individuals. In fact, according to our speaker, many common torture techniques in use today either originated in democracies or reached their most characteristic form in that context."

Link to online transcript

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