Summer 2008 | Public lectures and events | Video: Recent Episodes
London School of Economics and Political Science
Video files from LSE's summer 2008 programme of public lectures and events, for more recordings and pdf documents see the corresponding audio collection.
Contributor(s): Dr Martin Rupiya, Patrick Smith, Knox Chitiyo, Gugulethu Moyo | As talks between Mr Mugabe and both factions of the Movement for Democratic Change open in South Africa, the crisis in Zimbabwe continues. Western countries are pushing for more sanctions against Zimbabwe's rulers, while President Mbeki and the African Union oppose them. Meanwhile, the shrinking economy provides Mr Mugabe with less and less to pay the army, police and administrators. The June 27 presidential run-off was dubbed the endgame. It proved just another stage in Zimbabwe's unfolding catastrophe. What might happen next?
Contributor(s): Fareed Zakaria | Global power is shifting, and wealth and power are bubbling up in unexpected places. Fareed Zakaria considers not so much the decline of America, but the impact of the rise of "the rest". This transition of power will redefine America's role as the arbiter of the world's political, economic, and cultural issues and force it to accommodate new heavyweights. Zakaria offers an illuminating view of our increasingly complicated future, the growing influence of rapidly developing nations, and how these forces of great change will continue to play out on the world stage. This event marks the launch of Fareed Zakaria's new book The Post American World (Allen Lane, July 2008).
Contributor(s): Professor Kenneth Pomeranz | This lecture traces evolving relationships among skills, bargaining power, and East Asian economic development. Kenneth Pomeranz is UCI Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California-Irvine.
Contributor(s): Cécile Laborde | The global revival of religion has raised fundamental questions about its role in politics and its claim that it serves as a principle of identity, indispensable to the continuing survival of communities. This series brings together leading thinkers and scholars to encourage discussion and debate on this crucial contemporary theme.
Contributor(s): Gabor Steingart | Globalization is the defining force of our lifetime, but most politicians have not understood the complexity of the process. Thus argues Gabor Steingart, in his controversial and thought-provoking new book The War for Wealth: The True Story of Globalization (McGraw-Hill, June 2008) which he will present for the first time in the UK.
Contributor(s): Professor Axel A Weber | In light of the current tensions in financial markets Professor Axel Weber will look at financial market stability from a central bank's perspective. Axel Weber is president of Deutsche Bundesbank and a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.
Contributor(s): Professor Philip Bobbitt | The threat of terrorism is now part of the landscape of daily lives all over the world, yet we have hardly begun to think properly about it. In his new book Terror and Consent and in this lecture Professor Bobbitt argues that we are fighting these wars with weapons and concepts which though useful to us in previous conflicts have now been superseded. He aims to provide a fundamental rethinking of most generally accepted ideas about terror in the modern world 7 what it is, how it operates and above all how it can be frustrated. Philip Bobbitt argues that we need to reforge the links between law and strategy; to realize how the evolution of modern states, which have always produced terrorists in their own image, has now produced a globally networked terrorism; to combine humanitarian interests with strategies of intervention; and above all to rethink what 7victory7 in such a war, if it is a war, might look like 7 no occupied capitals, no treaties, no victory parades, but the preservation, protection and defence of human rights and of states of consent. It is central to his argument that we are fighting terror and not just terrorists.
Contributor(s): Professor Richard Norman | The global revival of religion has raised fundamental questions about its role in politics and its claim that it serves as a principle of identity, indispensable to the continuing survival of communities. This series brings together leading thinkers and scholars to encourage discussion and debate on this crucial contemporary theme.
Contributor(s): Professor Veit Bader | The lecture presents a contextualised criticism of first and second order myths of secularisms and of the conflation of liberal-democratic institutions with secular ones, and argues for the priority of liberal democracy. Veit Bader holds chairs in sociology, and social and political philosophy, both at the Universiteit van Amsterdam.
Contributor(s): Professor Mona Siddiqui | The global revival of religion has raised fundamental questions about its role in politics and its claim that it serves as a principle of identity, indispensable to the continuing survival of communities. This series brings together leading thinkers and scholars to encourage discussion and debate on this crucial contemporary theme.
Contributor(s): Professor James Scott | Professor Scott argues that the hill peoples of mainland Southeast Asia are fugitive, runaway populations, practising 'escape agriculture', 'escape social structure' and 'escape culture'. Jim Scott is Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology at Yale University.
Contributor(s): Dr Ashraf Ghani, Clare Lockhart | Authors Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart challenge existing concepts of state systems and offer new ways of fostering bonds between states, civil societies and markets. This event marks the launch of Fixing Failed States - A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World (OUP, May 2008). Ashraf Ghani is chairman of the Institute for State Effectiveness and former finance minister of Afghanistan. Clare Lockhart is Director of the Institute for State Effectiveness, where she advises countries and other organizations on state-building. She was UN adviser to the Bonn process, and Adviser to the Government of Afghanistan responsible for several national initiatives. She is a lawyer, historian and specialist in institution-building, and has worked at the World Bank, UN and as a barrister.
Contributor(s): Professor Andrew Sheng | The lecture will look at structural changes in the financial landscape in East Asia, and issues being faced by reformers and regulators, including in China, on raising the game of globalising Asia. Andrew Sheng is chief adviser to the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
Contributor(s): Lord Patten | Lord Patten served as a minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1983 to 1992, holding the position of chairman of the Conservative party from 1990 to 1992. From 1992 to 1997 he was governor of Hong Kong and from 1998 to 1999 he was chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland. He became a European commissioner in 1999, responsible for external affairs until 2004.
Contributor(s): George Soros and Howard Davies | In the midst of the worst financial upheaval since the Great Depression, George Soros explores the origins of the crisis and its implications for the future. Soros, whose breadth of experience in financial markets is unrivalled, places the current crisis in the context of decades of study of how individuals and institutions handle the boom and bust cycles that now dominate global economic activity. "This is a once in lifetime moment", says Soros in characterising the scale of financial distress spreading across Wall Street, the London Stock Exchange, and financial centres around the world. This event marks the launch of George Soros new book 'The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means' (PublicAffairs, May 2008).
Contributor(s): Alexandr Vondra | In January 2007, Alexandr Vondra was appointed the Czech Republic4s Deputy Prime Minister for European affairs. He is responsible for preparing the agenda for the Czech EU Presidency. Prior to this position he was the Foreign Minister (2006-2007), Special Representative for the NATO Summit in Prague (2001-2002), Ambassador to the USA (1997-2001) and foreign policy advisor to former President Vaclav Havel (1990-1992). Alexandr Vondra played a central role in leading the Czech Republic to EU and NATO memberships. He is also a former spokesman for the Czech dissident movement Charter 77.
Contributor(s): Dalton McGuinty | He led his party to a second-consecutive majority government in October 2007 and is Ontario7s 24th Premier. He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1990 in Ottawa South and has been re-elected four times. During his years as a backbench MPP, he served as a critic for energy, colleges and universities, native affairs and the environment. In 1996, Dalton McGuinty was elected leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. His first election campaign as leader was in 1999, when the Liberal party received 40 per cent of the popular vote, winning 35 seats and adding nine new caucus members. In the general election of 2003, Dalton McGuinty7s Liberals formed the government, taking 72 seats with 47 per cent of the vote. Premier McGuinty7s campaign to build a stronger Ontario for a stronger Canada led the country7s leading newsmagazine, Maclean7s, to call him 7Mr. Ontario.7
Contributor(s): Dr Peter Piot | Dr Piot will review the response to AIDS, now and over the longer term, and examine its relationship with other key health and development issues. Peter Piot is executive director of UNAIDS and under secretary general of the United Nations.
Contributor(s): Professor Ghassan Salame | The Middle East is a region where the United States plays a crucial role. But what about Europe? To what extent should the Middle East be part of the EU's diplomatic concerns? Ghassan Salame is professor of international relations at Sciences Po and a former minister of culture of Lebanon.
Contributor(s): Misha Glenny | International journalist Misha Glenny talks about his investigation into the world of organised crime. He reveals how conventional policing cannot cope with globalised crime which is corrupting governments and fuelling human rights abuses and suffering. Misha Glenny is an award winning international journalist and author.
Contributor(s): Professor Joseph S Nye | Leadership is always necessary in any endeavour, applying equally to politics, business, society, and culture. Whilst enriching our understanding of the concept Nye highlights how the changing nature of leadership derives from broader social and political changes. Joseph S. Nye Jr, is University Distinguished Service Professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where he was formerly Dean. In government, he served as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, Assistant Secretary of Defence, and Deputy Undersecretary of State. This event marks the launch of Professor Nye's new book The Powers to Lead (OUP, May 2008).
Contributor(s): Jean-Pierre Jouyet | Jean-Pierre Jouyet is French minister of state for European affairs.
Contributor(s): Professor Sidney Tarrow | This lecture will consider questions about European identity and new problems of citizenship raised by the formation of the European Union. Richard Bellamy is professor of political science and director of the School of Public Policy, University College London. John F Jungclaussen is economic correspondent at Die Zeit.
Contributor(s): Professor Sidney Tarrow | Does globalisation and the idea of a global civil society provide an adequate framework for understanding contemporary domestic and international non-governmental public action? Sidney Tarrow teaches government and sociology at Cornell University. Jan Aart Scholte is centennial professor at LSE and professor at the University of Warwick.
Contributor(s): Rt Hon David Miliband | David Miliband was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in June 2007.
Contributor(s): Professor Tariq Modood | Can multicultural inclusivity extend to religious minorities? Can it do so without conflicting with secularism? Tariq Modood is professor of sociology, politics and public policy at Bristol University.
Contributor(s): Aled Fisher, Kate Hudson, Bruce Kent, Walter Wolfgang | To mark CND turning 50 in 2008, the organisation is collaborating with LSE Archives on a touring exhibition, archives project and this roundtable with History Today to tell the story of the movement from the Cold War to Trident and beyond. Aled Fisher is LSESU Environment and Ethics officer. Kate Hudson is chair of CND. Bruce Kent is former chairman and honorary vice-president of CND. Walter Wolfgang is vice president of CND.
Contributor(s): Professor Jeffrey D Sachs | Jeffrey Sachs argues the need a new economic paradigmQglobal, inclusive, cooperative, environmentally aware, and science basedQbecause we are running up against the realities of a crowded planet. The alternative is a series of cascading threats to global well-being, all of which are solvable but potentially disastrous if left unattended. Prosperity must be maintained through new strategies for sustainable development that complement market forces, spread sustainable technologies, stabilize the global population, and enable the billion poorest people to escape from the trap of extreme poverty. This event marks launch of Professor SachsU new book Common Wealth: economics for a crowded planet (Allen Lane, March 2008). Jeffrey D Sachs is director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He served as special adviser to former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals.
Contributor(s): Dr Rowan Williams | The idea of human rights is often traced back to the characteristically religious insight that every individual is unique in the eyes of God. This explanation of why human dignity is important held sway for centuries, but it has lost much of its grip on society in these uncertain, post-modern times. Many adherents of human rights today see no need to root their beliefs in any religious (or specifically Christian) set of beliefs. Indeed some would go so far as to see religion as distinctly hostile to human rights. Are they right to do so? What is the true relationship between religion and human rights? Rowan Williams was enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in February 2003. Following ordination in 1978 he combined teaching and pastoral work in Cambridge and then Oxford (where he was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity from 1986-92) until his election as Bishop of Monmouth in 1991 and subsequently Archbishop of Wales from 2000.
Contributor(s): Professor John Hooker | Professor Hooker will argue that the world is evolving towards a new economic equilibrium based on cultural comparative advantage, leading to cultural deglobalisation, not globalisation. John Hooker is professor of business ethics and professor of operations research at Carnegie Mellon University.
Contributor(s): Howard Davies, David Green, John McFall, Sir Steve Robson, Gillian Tett | As international financial markets have become more complex, so has the regulatory system which oversees them. The Basel Committee is just one of a plethora of international bodies and groupings which now set standards for financial activity around the world, in the interests of investor protection and financial stability. These groupings, and their decisions, have a major impact on markets in developed and developing countries, and on competition between financial firms. Yet their workings are shrouded in mystery, and their legitimacy is uncertain. Howard Davies was the first chairman of the UK's Financial Services Authority, the single regulator for the whole of Britain's financial sector. He was a member of the main international regulatory committees for several years, and is now director of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). David Green was head of International Policy at the FSA, after 30 years in the Bank of England, and has been particularly closely associated with the development of the European regulatory system. He now advises the Financial Reporting Council. John McFall MP is Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons since 2001. He was re-elected to this post in October, 2005. In 1997 John served as a Government Whip and in July 1998 he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Northern Ireland Office. His portfolio included responsibility for the Department of Education, Community Relations, the Training and Employment Agency and the Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Economic Affairs. Sir Steve Robson is a former senior UK civil servant, who had responsibility for a wide variety of Treasury matters. His early career included the post of private secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and secondment to ICFC (now 3i). He was also a second permanent secretary of HM Treasury, where he was managing director of the Finance and Regulation Directorate. He is a non-executive director of JP Morgan Cazenove Holdings, RBS, Xstrata Plc, The Financial Reporting Council Limited and Partnerships UK plc, and a member of the Chairman's Advisory Committee of KPMG.
Contributor(s): Nicholas C Garganas | The introduction of the euro posed unique challenges for monetary policy. Some observers took the view that a single monetary policy for all euro-area countries would not succeed because the euro area did not fulfil the pre-requisites of on Optimum Currency Area (OCA). In his lecture Mr Garganas will argue that the traditional way of thinking about OCAs overlooks the fact that the criteria used to judge optimality are, to some extent, endogenous. He will also argue, the experience of the euro area demonstrates that the creation of a monetary union can itself create conditions that are favourable to the well-functioning of the union. Nicholas C Garganas is governor of the Bank of Greece, a member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, a member of the Governing Council and the General Council of the European Central Bank, and a governor of the International Monetary Fund for Greece.
Contributor(s): David Goodhart, Professor John Keane, Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh | Capture started: 2008-04-29 18:31
Contributor(s): Sir John Holmes, Professor James Putzel | Emergency relief efforts face multiple challenges in the next five years: preserving 'humanitarian space' and staying independent of political/military action in places like Darfur, Iraq and Somalia; increasing effective coordination of the many humanitarian actors in the field; rising to the challenge of ever more natural disasters from the effects of climate change; and coping with the immediate consequences for the poorest of the recent structural shift upwards in food prices. How central a role can the UN play in addressing these challenges, and how can UN agencies, international and national NGOs and the Red Cross/Crescent movement work together most effectively? John Holmes is UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, a position he has held since March 2007. He succeeded Mr. Jan Egeland in this post.
Contributor(s): Professor Spike Peterson | This lecture considers how tremendous growth of licit and illicit informal sector activities tends to exacerbate gender, race, class and geopolitical hierarchies and ultimately fuels conflicts at multiple levels, including civil wars. Spike Peterson is the Leverhulme visiting professor, LSE Gender Institute and the Department of International Relations.
Contributor(s): Steve Coll | Steve Coll's new book 'The Bin Ladens: The Story of a Family and its Fortune' charts the rise of a family, and the story of the Saudi royal family they loyally served. Steve Coll is most recently the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller Ghost Wars. He also won a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism. He covered Afghanistan and the Washington Post's South Asia bureau chief between 1989 and 1992 and was the Washington Post's managing editor from 1998 to 2004. He is now staff writer at the New Yorker. He is the author of five books, including On the Grand Trunk Road and The Taking of Getty Oil. He lives with his wife and three children in Maryland.
Contributor(s): The Honourable Kevin Rudd MP, Prime Minister of Australia | The Australian Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, was elected to office in November last year and moved quickly to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and deliver a national apology to the Stolen Generations of Indigenous Australians. He has identified fighting inflation, acting decisively on climate change, improving the health and hospital system, investing in education and putting fairness back into Australian workplaces as his Government's key priorities. Mr Rudd has said that his Government's mandate is to build a modern Australian economy capable of dealing with the challenges of the 21st century.
Contributor(s): President Michelle Bachelet | Michelle Bachelet, was born on September 29, 1951. She is a trained paediatrician and public health specialist who also holds degrees in military science. A member of the Socialist Party and mother of three, Dr. Bachelet was the first woman in Chilean and Latin American history to hold the Health and Defence portfolios. On January 15, 2006 she became Chile's first-ever woman president.