Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Joshua Castellino
Book: Calibrating Colonial Crime: Reparations and The Crime of Unjust Enrichment (Policy Press, 2025)
Date: November 4, 2025

This episode explores Dr. Joshua Castellino’s recent book, which interrogates the legacy of colonialism through the lens of international law. The discussion moves beyond historical decolonization to address the persistent structural and economic consequences of colonial rule, the inadequacy of current legal frameworks, and the need to conceptualize colonial crimes—including the proposal for an international crime of unjust enrichment. The conversation is rich with historical examples, reflections on institutional failures, and potential paths toward systemic reparations and global justice.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Dr. Castellino’s Background and Motivation

[03:24–04:33]

• Castellino introduces himself as a professor of International and Comparative Law and Executive Dean at Brunel University of London.
• Started career in journalism, then spent decades working, researching, and teaching in international law; extensive experience collaborating with vulnerable postcolonial groups in around 60 countries.
• Identifies “deep structural impediments” to postcolonial societies’ thriving, blaming the failure of international law to offer adequate protections.

Why Colonial Crimes Remain Unaddressed

[04:33–07:24]

• Colonization’s harm remains unresolved due to “hardwired” barriers within the international system:
  • Statutes of limitations and the intertemporal rule of law impede legal redress.
  • Historical narratives are often written from a narrow (male, Western) perspective, making evidence difficult to recover.
  • Practical questions (e.g., how, when, and who would pay reparations) are unresolved.
• “...the sovereign state has become the only legitimate form of government…there’s an imposed territoriality…a notion of governance based on the sovereign state…an extractive economic model. These are hardwired elements.” (Castellino, 06:00)

Toward a Typology of Colonial Crimes

[07:49–11:02]

• Inspired by consultations with communities in Namibia regarding German genocide, Castellino sought to identify recurring patterns in colonial crimes globally.
• The book introduces the “seven deadly sins” of colonial crime, building a cohesive typology that transcends local and episodic grievances.
• Recurring issues include:
  • Systemic vs. episodic crimes.
  • The exploitation of land and peoples through doctrines like terra nullius.
  • The erasure of indigenous and women’s histories in conventional narratives.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Colonial Crime: Examples

[11:12–14:13]

• Subjecthood vs. Objecthood:
  • Colonized peoples treated as objects rather than subjects with rights.
  • “Subjects can resemble objects in the dark.”
• Acquisition of Territory:
  • Treating collective land as vacant for extraction and settlement.
• Episodic Crimes:
  • Genocides, massacres (e.g., German actions against Nama and Herero; Jallianwala Bagh in India).

The Chasm Between Legal Equality and Reality

[14:14–18:06]

• Despite equality enshrined in law (“equality in law, de facto inequality”), systemic disparities persist.
• The concentration of wealth, growing post-COVID, often disadvantages minorities, women, and even majority populations.
• “Poverty has a very clear identity—it’s often ethnic, linguistically and religiously distinct people, women among them being worst impacted.” (Castellino, 15:43)
• Gender-based inequality and violence remain stubbornly present.

Decolonization as a Colonial Crime?

[18:06–23:05]

• The UN-led process of decolonization, typically viewed as progress, is critiqued:
  • The transfer of sovereignty retained colonial borders and structures, often neglecting local histories, governance systems, and identities.
• “I’d argue that decolonization never happened. That was just basically a transfer of wealth from one patriarchal power to another, handpicked by the departing colonial ruler.” (Castellino, 21:36)
• Economic and political systems remained extractive, sending resources from the Global South to the North, now managed by postcolonial elites.

The Crime of Unjust Enrichment: Concept and Application

[23:05–28:51]

• Raises the problem of concentrated, intergenerational wealth—wealth is viscous, not fluid.
  • “Not even Usain Bolt would win a 100-meter race if he was starting from outside the stadium. You effectively have an unequal starting point.”
• Unjust enrichment exists in law (mostly in civil law/international law; less so in common law) but could be expanded as an international crime.
• Precedents include the Lena Goldfields and Chorzow factory cases.
• “The biggest problem in making any change happen is finance. And actually the book argues this finance does exist. It’s just protected. It’s ill-gotten and then it’s protected by statute.” (Castellino, 27:25)

Colonial Crimes, Climate Crisis & The Future

[29:53–34:00]

• UNFCCC and other bodies now highlight colonialism’s direct link to the climate crisis.
• Extractive, colonial-era economic models continue to inform present-day exploitation of resources and land use.
• Indigenous knowledge is vital for mitigation and adaptation—current plans (e.g., “30 by 30” for wilderness protection) often threaten indigenous stewardship and risk repeating colonial expropriation under a green guise.
• “If you take indigenous peoples out of those areas, as 30 by 30 envisages, what you’ll in fact do is leave those areas at the behest of the settled state...So in a sense, even the plans we have right now are deeply colonial and that has to change.” (Castellino, 35:20)

Why Is It So Hard to Recognize Colonial Crimes as Legal Wrongs?

[38:55–42:24]

• There is explosive polarization, deliberate scapegoating, and the misconception that all people of European descent must be blamed.
• “The moment you start asking the question, you’re told, 'Oh, you’re trying to blame people, and oh, why should we pay for the crimes of the past?’ It needs a very sophisticated and strategically adept discussion to even start that process.” (Castellino, 40:07)
• The focus, Castellino insists, should be on targeted accountability, especially the private interests and corporations who benefited and whose wealth is traceable in public archives.

Compensating Without Witch Hunts: Practical Reparations

[42:24–46:47]

• Pursue systemic, not individual, reparations; target private wealth accumulated through colonial extraction, as documented in corporate and other public records.
• “It’s not an individual going after somebody else’s great-grandfather...it’s actually looking at this at a systemic level...at a place where the acquisition costs of that wealth are actually worth it.”
• Cites emerging examples of former plantation families advocating reparations.

Alternatives to the Sovereign State—Subregional Approaches

[46:47–51:05]

• Proposes moving beyond the state as the primary agent—regional/subregional collaboration may be more effective for issues like climate, migration, and economic restructuring.
• Suggests conceptualizing the world in 17 subregions (five for Africa alone, multiple for Asia, etc.) and focusing on their unique challenges rather than “one size fits all” global plans.
• “None of these three problems can really be addressed by the sovereign state as a unit. They simply can’t. They have to be addressed in a bigger format.” (Castellino, 47:03)

Upcoming Work and Further Reading

[51:05–52:44]

• Castellino previews his next book (International Law and the Reconceptualization of Territorial Boundaries), which explores the history of European legal framers who literally “drew lines on maps” and the enduring impact of those decisions.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “We have de jure equality, we have equality in law... But we have de facto inequality. And it’s not just a gap—it’s a chasm.”
  (Castellino, 14:54)

• “I’d argue that decolonization never happened. That was just basically a transfer of wealth from one patriarchal power to another.”
  (Castellino, 21:37)

• “Unjust enrichment is really trying to get and cajole people into thinking through exactly to what extent can we rethink the systems we build now... the biggest problem in making any change happen is finance. And actually the book argues this finance does exist, it's just protected... We need to unleash that.”
  (Castellino, 27:19)

• “The biggest crisis we face is climate. That cannot be solved by the sovereign state.”
  (Castellino, 47:16)

• “So in a sense, even the plans we have right now are deeply colonial and that has to change.”
  (Castellino, 36:20)

• “The argument the book makes is that looking at corporations in particular is important, not just because these corporations unfairly gained, but because these corporations continue to perpetrate a system that's giving us the current climate crisis.”
  (Castellino, 45:33)

Key Timestamps

• [03:24] – Dr. Castellino’s introduction and background
• [05:01] – Systemic barriers in international law
• [07:49] – Developing a global typology of colonial crime
• [11:12] – The “seven deadly sins” of colonial crime and examples
• [14:48] – Legal equality vs. lived inequality
• [18:47] – UN decolonization as a “colonial crime”
• [23:25] – The case and concept for unjust enrichment
• [29:53] – Colonialism’s legacy and its link to the climate crisis
• [34:01] – Contemporary “green” initiatives and the risk of perpetuating colonial patterns
• [39:18] – Why naming colonial crime as a legal wrong is so difficult
• [43:10] – Practical paths for reparations and systemic accountability
• [46:47] – Rethinking governance: subregional, not merely state-based
• [51:05] – Next book preview: boundaries, international law, and colonial legacies

Further Reading

Calibrating Colonial Crime: Reparations and The Crime of Unjust Enrichment (Policy Press, 2025)
International Law and the Reconceptualization of Territorial Boundaries (Upcoming; 2025)

This rich episode is essential listening for anyone interested in the intersections of history, international law, economic justice, and climate policy—and for those seeking constructive, systemic ways forward on the unfinished business of colonial legacies.