Autumn 2009 | Public lectures and events | Video: Recent Episodes
London School of Economics and Political Science
Video files from LSE's autumn 2009 programme of public lectures and events, for more recordings and pdf documents see the corresponding audio collection.
Contributor(s): Various Speakers | Throughout his long life Professor Peter Townsend - a great friend of the Centre, advocate of human rights, and emeritus professor at LSE - worked hard first to prove the existence of poverty in Britain and then to persuade our society not to take such deprivation for granted. Peter Townsend died in June this year and this performance of 'Broke' by Ice and Fire, Actors for Human Rights, is dedicated to his memory. Using dialogue from real-life interviews with people living in poverty in the UK, the actors explore the dismal side-effects of such gross disadvantage - the homelessness, the lack of affordable housing, the unemployment, the debt, and much else besides. The plight of the poor on its own doorstep mocks Britain's aspiration to be an ethical force in the world and a beacon of human rights standards at home. Often unseen and unheard, this performance gives the poor a voice.
Contributor(s): George Soros, Guy Verhofstadt | This public discussion marks the publication of Guy Verhofstadt's latest book The Financial Crisis: How Europe can Save the World. George Soros is Chairman of Soros Fund Management, LLC. He was born in Budapest in 1930. He survived the Nazi occupation and fled communist Hungary in 1947 for England, where he graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He then settled in the United States, where he accumulated a large fortune through an international investment fund he founded and managed. Mr Soros has been active as a philanthropist since 1979, when he began providing funds to help black students attend Capetown University in apartheid South Africa. He has established a network of philanthropic organisations active in more than 50 countries around the world. These organisations are dedicated to promoting the values of democracy and an open society. The foundation network spends about $400 million annually. Mr Soros is the author of ten books. His articles and essays on politics, society, and economics regularly appear in major newspapers and magazines around the world.
Contributor(s): Richard Susskind | Public figures who were once lawyers or law students will speak about how, if at all, their experience of studying, teaching or practising law has been of value to them in their other careers. Richard Susskind is an independent adviser on information technology.
Contributor(s): Mehmet Ali Talat | Mehmet Ali Talat is the Turkish Cypriot Leader. Mehmet Ali Talat was born in Kyrenia on July 6, 1952. Completing his primary and secondary education in Cyprus, Talat graduated from the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey with an M.Sc.degree in Electrical Engineering.
Contributor(s): Professor Joel Waldfogel | Christmas is a time of seasonal cheer, family get-togethers, holiday parties, and-gift giving. BUT - How many of us get gifts we like? How many of us give gifts not knowing what recipients want? Waldfogel illustrates how our consumer spending generates vast amounts of economic waste - over £50 billion each winter. He provides solid explanations to show us why it's time to stop the madness and think twice before we start on our Christmas shopping extravaganza. When we buy for ourselves, every pound we spend produces at least a pound in satisfaction, we shop carefully and purchase items that are worth more than they cost. Gift giving is different. We make less-informed choices, max out on credit to buy gifts worth less than the money spent, and leave recipients less than satisfied, creating what Waldfogel calls "deadweight loss." Whilst recognizing the difficulties of altering current trends, Waldfogel offers some alternative gift-giving suggestions.
Contributor(s): Dr Nigel Dodd | In this lunchtime series of lectures, a selection of LSE's academics from across the spectrum of the social sciences explain the latest thinking on how social scientists work to address the critical problems of the day. They survey the leading ideas and contributions made by their discipline, explain the types of problems that are addressed and the tools that are used, and explore the kinds of solutions proposed.
Contributor(s): Professor Carol Graham | The determinants of happiness are remarkably similar around the world, in countries as different as Afghanistan, the U.S, and Chile. Income matters to happiness but only so much; friends, freedom, and employment are good for happiness, while crime, poor health, and divorce are bad. Paradoxically, however, people in places like Afghanistan can be as happy as those in much wealthier and safer ones like Chile. One explanation is the remarkable human capacity to adapt to adversity and hardship. While adaptation may be a good thing for individual wellbeing, it can also result in collective tolerance for bad equilibrium which are difficult for societies to escape from.
Contributor(s): Professor Michael Cox, Martin Jacques, Professor Robert Wade | This event brings together Martin Jacques, Professor Michael Cox, and Professor Robert Wade to debate the changing nature and form of modern capitalism and to explore some of the challenges that will confront capitalism in the years ahead. Martin Jacques is the author of When China Rules the World: the Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World, and a Senior Visiting Fellow at LSE IDEAS. Michael Cox is professor of international relations and co-director of LSE IDEAS. Robert Wade is Professor of International Political Economy at LSE.
Contributor(s): David Willetts | Demographic change, migration and the fiscal crisis threaten a perfect storm. What are the indicators telling us about the choices we need to make? Can we see gain as well as pain ahead? David Willetts is Conservative MP for Havant and shadow minister for universities and skills.
Contributor(s): Madam Fu Ying | What is China doing to combat climate change? What challenges are China confronted with in addressing climate change? How China is tackling climate change through international cooperation? Chinese Ambassador Mme FU Ying will share with us China's perspectives on climate change.
Contributor(s): Amitav Ghosh | Amitav Ghosh is one of India's most acclaimed authors and cultural commentators. His novels include 'The Glass Palace', 'The Hungry Tide' and his most recent 'Sea of Poppies', the first volume of the Ibis Trilogy. He is also a celebrated travel and non-fiction writer, including such works as 'In an Antique Land' and 'Incendiary Circumstances'.
Contributor(s): Raj Patel | "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing." Credit has crunched, debt has turned toxic, the gears of the world economy have ground to a halt. It's now clear that the market doesn't only get it wrong about sub-prime mortgages; it gets it wrong about everything. We need to ask again one of the most fundamental questions a society ever addresses: why do things cost what they do?
Contributor(s): Professor Lord Stern | Nick Stern is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at LSE and chairman of LSE's new Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. He also directs the Asia Research Centre and the India Observatory at LSE. He was Chief Economist of the World Bank (2000-2003), then Head of the UK Government Economic Service and led a Review of the Economics of Climate Change which was published in October 2006. In October 2007 he was appointed to the House of Lords as a non-party political peer.
Contributor(s): Vladimir Gligorov, Laza Kekic, Peter Sanfey | Vladimir Gligorov is Senior Economist at the Vienna Institute of International Economic Studies. Laza Kekic is Regional Director of Central & Eastern Europe & Director of Country Forecasting Services at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Peter Sanfey is Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist, EBRD.
Contributor(s): Alain de Botton | This talk will raise a host of questions about the meaning and purpose of work - in particular investigating the effects of industrialisation and modernisation on the individual worker. Alain de Botton is a philosopher, author and entrepreneur.
Contributor(s): Dr Phillip Campbell, Professor Paul Freemont, Professor Richard Kitney, Professor Nikolas Rose, Hugh Whittall, Dr James Wilsdon | Bioengineers are trying to create synthetic organisms that do not occur naturally. Is this an amazing scientific feat or something we should be worried about? Phillip Campbell is editor in chief of Nature. Paul Freemont and Richard Kitney are co-directors of the EPSRC Centre for Synthetic Biology, Imperial College. Nikolas Rose is director of the BIOS Centre at LSE. Hugh Whittall is director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. James Wilsdon is director of the Science Policy Centre at the Royal Society.
Contributor(s): Professor Bridget Hutter | In this lunchtime series of lectures, a selection of LSE's academics from across the spectrum of the social sciences explain the latest thinking on how social scientists work to address the critical problems of the day. They survey the leading ideas and contributions made by their discipline, explain the types of problems that are addressed and the tools that are used, and explore the kinds of solutions proposed.
Contributor(s): Professor Julia Black, Professor Charles Goodhart, Professor Michael Power, Dr Paul Woolley | The consequences of banks' risk taking behaviour will be felt by the public finances of many countries for at least another generation. Risk taking behaviour is the lifeblood of financial markets. How can, and should, it be managed? Julia Black is professor of law at LSE. Charles Goodhart is professor emeritus of banking and finance at LSE. Michael Power is professor of accounting at LSE. Paul Woolley is senior fellow at LSE's Paul Woolley Centre for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality.
Contributor(s): Professor Michel Wieviorka | Sociologists have published very little on the present economic crisis. But sociology is not lacking in ways and means to study the crisis in a more general framework of a global mutation over the past 35 years. Michel Wieviorka is professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
Contributor(s): Slavoj Zizek | Slavoj Zizek argues that the neoliberalism died twice: first as a political doctrine in the tragedy of the attacks of 9/11; then its farcical collapse as an economic theory when the meltdown at the end of 2008 brought an end to the utopia of global market capitalism. Has this crisis now offered a vital opening for the left to seize the reins of politics and the state?
Contributor(s): Professor Gilles Kepel | Political Islam has emerged as one of the great ideologies of the modern world. How did this occur? Will it inevitably lead to conflict with the West? Is a clash of civilizations avoidable? And where is Political Islam heading? Gilles Kepel is Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs for 2009-10. Professor Kepel is best known for his books on the Middle East and North Africa, and for his work on Islamism, including Islamism in Europe.
Contributor(s): Professor David Buckingham, Ranjana Das, Dr Chris Davies, Professor Sonia Livingstone, Dr Rebecca Willet | Enabling media literacy for 'digital natives' - a contradiction in terms? - Professor Sonia Livingstone, Department of Media and Communications, LSE. Talking about their generation: constructions of the digital learner - Professor David Buckingham, Institute of Education. -Q and A- Teenagers using the internet: riders, drivers, dabblers and outsiders - Dr Chris Davies, University of Oxford. Power relations, play and boredom in teens' online interactions - Dr Rebekah Willet, Institute of Education. Panel Reflections - Ranjana Das, POLIS Silverstone Scholar 2009
Contributor(s): Professor Jan Paulsson | The rise of international arbitration for commercial and investment related disputes has spurred the emergence of a new body of transnational rules that cut across the traditional concepts of legal regulation. Jan Paulsson is centennial professor of law at LSE and co-head of Freshfields' international arbitration and public international law groups.
Contributor(s): Ed Gillespie, Jo Confino | What strategies can individuals within organisations use to make their organisation more successful and sustainable? Ed Gillespie is the co-founder and creative director of Futerra Sustainability Communications. Futerra arose from the frustration of its co-founders, in the late 1990's, with the unsophisticated communications around sustainable development, and the dull and worthy messaging of corporate social responsibility. Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, they started a major research programme to develop guidelines for sustainability communications, now known as their popular 10 Rules. Ed Gillespie guards against green-wash while putting some fun and passion into sometimes complex messages. His interesting career history includes working for the Natural History Film Unit, as a marine biologist in Australia, New Caledonia and Orkney and on environmental issues for Transport for London. Ed has Masters degrees in both Marine Conservation and Sustainable Development, is a Trustee of Anti-Apathy and writes regularly for The Guardian.
Contributor(s): John Cassidy | What caused the recent global financial crisis? Some analysts blame greed, others stupidity, yet others myopia. The real problem is more fundamental, and it relates to the inner logic of a financially driven economy that generates perverse incentives and rewards damaging behaviour.
Contributor(s): Ambassador Richard Burt, Kate Hudson, Professor Mary Kaldor, HM Queen Noor | Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall is the time finally right to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons? Leading proponents of nuclear disarmament discuss why achieving Global Zero - a world without nuclear weapons - is both necessary and realistic.
Contributor(s): Professor Amartya Sen, Professor Richard Sennett | Nobel Prize winner Professor Amartya Sen will discuss his latest book The Idea of Justice with LSE's Professor Richard Sennett. This major philosophical work by one of the world's leading public intellectuals constructs a new theory of justice, not from abstract ideals or notions of what perfect institutions and rules might be, but from what the results of a system are practically, in the world. It highlights the importance of public reasoning and argues that a system of justice should require the agreement not just of the community which is making laws, but of outsiders who might be affected, or who might have valuable perspectives to offer. The methods and conclusions of the book have implications for many different fields of intellectual activity, not only those connected with justice. It is the most ambitious and wide-ranging book Amartya Sen has yet written.
Contributor(s): Jens Stoltenberg | Jens Stoltenberg's Second Government was appointed on 17 October 2005. It is a majority government representing the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. It was re-elected in a general election earlier this year. Mr. Stoltenberg was Prime Minister 2000-2001, Minister of Finance 1996-1997 in Thorbjørn Jagland's Government, Minister of Trade and Energy 1993-1996 in Gro Harlem Brundtland's Third Government, and state secretary at the Ministry of the Environment 1990-1991 under Gro Harlem Brundtland's Third Government.
Contributor(s): Ed Miliband | Ed Miliband is Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. He was previously Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, where he was responsible for helping to coordinate work across Government, and leading the Government's efforts to tackle social exclusion, support the Third Sector and coordinate the improvement of public services. From 2006 to 2007, he was Minister for the Third Sector, supporting charities, social enterprises and community organisations.
Contributor(s): Professor David Marsden | In this lunchtime series of lectures, a selection of LSE's academics from across the spectrum of the social sciences explain the latest thinking on how social scientists work to address the critical problems of the day. They survey the leading ideas and contributions made by their discipline, explain the types of problems that are addressed and the tools that are used, and explore the kinds of solutions proposed.
Contributor(s): Diarmaid MacCulloch | Barack Obama came to office determined to change America's relations with the Arab and Islamic worlds. The Arab world has responded to his message of "mutual interest and mutual respect" with enthusiasm and conviction. Part of the success of Obama as a communicator lies in the sensitivity he shows to recent Arab history. This lecture will examine the Obama factor in addressing the many challenges facing US policy towards the Mid East, and Arab relations with the world's sole superpower.
Contributor(s): Professor David Held, Lord Patten | The list of challenges facing the world is proliferating rapidly from climate change to nuclear proliferation and nobody seems to have much of a grip on what is going on. In this public dialogue hosted by Global Policy, a new innovative and interdisciplinary journal, Chris Patten and Professor David Held will discuss what we know in each of these areas and how progress can be made.
Contributor(s): Professor Yann Algan | Can Europe's variety of economic systems be explained by differences in culture and values? And can such differences survive the homogenising impact of globalisation? Yann Algan is professor of economics at Sciences Po, Paris.
Contributor(s): Dr Eugene Rogan | Barack Obama came to office determined to change America's relations with the Arab and Islamic worlds. The Arab world has responded to his message of "mutual interest and mutual respect" with enthusiasm and conviction. Part of the success of Obama as a communicator lies in the sensitivity he shows to recent Arab history. This lecture will examine the Obama factor in addressing the many challenges facing US policy towards the Mid East, and Arab relations with the world's sole superpower.
Contributor(s): Professor Saskia Sassen, Professor Richard Sennett | With cities contributing upwards of 75 per cent of global carbon emissions, urban design is increasingly important when planning for climate change. This discussion examines the creative urban design solutions coming out of the world's cities. Saskia Sassen is Robert S Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. Richard Sennett is professor of sociology at LSE and NYU. Jonathon Porritt is the chair of the sustainable development commission and founder and director of Forum for the Future.
Contributor(s): Jeremy Hunt MP, Peter Bazalgette, Professor Robin Mansell, Sacha Deshmukh | Jeremy Hunt MP is the Shadow Communications Minister. Peter Bazalgette is a media entrepreneur. Robin Mansell is a professor of new media and the internet and head of the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE. Sacha Deshmukh is CEO of Mandate Communications. Charlie Beckett is Direcor of Polis. Jeremy Hunt will be joined by Professor Robin Mansell and Peter Bazalgette in a panel discussion about the future of Digital Britain.
Contributor(s): Susie Orbach | In the past decades the pressure to perfect and redesign our bodies has been unprecedented. Susie Orbach discusses how for many, the body has become the measure of our worth. Susie Orbach is a psychoanalyst and author of Bodies and Fat is a Feminist Issue.
Contributor(s): Professor Sir Adam Roberts | Was the end of the Cold War a victory for power politics, or for people power? Twenty years after the opening of the Berlin Wall, debate continues about what factors sealed the fate of the Soviet system in eastern and central Europe, and eventually in the Soviet Union itself. Non-violent popular movements -- especially in Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia -- played a significant part in the events. How did they relate to other forms of power, and what was their effect on the shaping of the post-Cold War world?
Contributor(s): Takis Arapoglou | How has the banking crisis affected South East Europe? What are the prospects there for foreign banks? What are the implications for the future adaptation of the region into the EU? Takis Arapoglou is chairman and CEO of the National Bank of Greece.
Contributor(s): Professor Detlof von Winterfeldt | This presentation provides an overview of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis' (IIASA) accomplishments and its new strategy, focussing on policy relevant research on three global problem areas: food and water; energy and climate change; and poverty and equity. Detlof von Winterfeldt is director of IIASA and centennial professor of operational research at LSE.
Contributor(s): Professor Michael Barzelay | In this lunchtime series of lectures, a selection of LSE's academics from across the spectrum of the social sciences explain the latest thinking on how social scientists work to address the critical problems of the day. They survey the leading ideas and contributions made by their discipline, explain the types of problems that are addressed and the tools that are used, and explore the kinds of solutions proposed.
Contributor(s): Will Hutton | Will Hutton is executive vice chair of the Work Foundation taking up this position in mid 2008 having served as chief executive since 2000. He began his career as a stockbroker and investment analyst, before working in BBC TV and radio as a producer and reporter. Prior to joining The Work Foundation, Will spent four years as editor in chief of the Observer and he continues to write a weekly column for the paper.
Contributor(s): Hilary Mantel | Public figures who were once lawyers or law students will speak about how, if at all, their experience of studying, teaching or practising law has been of value to them in their other careers. Hilary Mantel is an award winning novelist and an LSE alumnus.
Contributor(s): Andrew Altman, Councillor Paul Brickell, Professor Ricky Burdett, Roger Taylor | This event explores the planning and physical development of the Olympic Park after the 2012 games as well as the wider socio-economic benefits the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are bringing. Andrew Altman is chief executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company. Paul Brickell is executive member for Olympics and public affairs at Newham council and chief executive of Leaside Regeneration. Ricky Burdett is director of Urban Age at LSE and principal design advisor to the London 2012 Olympics. Roger Taylor is director of the Host Boroughs Unit.
Contributor(s): José María Aznar | A crisis that has impoverished the world has shown the need for an enhanced rules-based framework for the international financial system. More transparency, better regulation, incentives and oversight and a more in depth understanding of the implications of increased financial interdependence in a globalized world are the basis for the reforms needed.
Contributor(s): Stephen J Dubner, Professor Steven D Levitt | Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling 4 million copies in 35 languages. Now, four years in the making, arrives the follow up: SuperFreakonomics. Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner return with a book that is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first. Freakonomics made the world safe to discuss the economics of crack cocaine and the impact of baby names. SuperFreakonomics retains that off-kilter sensibility (comparing, for instance, the relative dangers of driving while drunk versus walking while drunk) but also tackles a host of issues at the very centre of modern society: terrorism, global warming, altruism, and more.
Contributor(s): Professor Robyn Wiegman | This lecture explores the production of critical value and competency in contemporary feminist theory. Robyn Wiegman is Professor of Women's Studies and Literature and former Director of the Women's Studies Program at Duke from 2001-2007. Her publications include American Anatomies: Theorizing Race and Gender (1995), Who Can Speak: Identity and Critical Authority (1995), Feminism Beside Itself (1995), AIDS and the National Body (1997), The Futures of American Studies (2002), and Women's Studies on Its Own (2002). Professor Wiegman's research interests include feminist theory, queer theory, American Studies, critical race theory, and film and media studies. She is currently working on two manuscripts: Being in Time With Feminism focuses on the institutionalization of feminism in the U.S. academy; Object Lessons: The U.S. Knowledge Politics of Identity pays attention to relations of identification and affect in the constitution of identity as an academic object of study.
Contributor(s): Michael Kirby | In 2009, the Delhi High Court in India upheld a challenge to the constitutional validity of s377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalized homosexuality. Michael Kirby will explain why UK lawyers should be engaged in the reform movement as a matter of basic human rights.
Contributor(s): Professor John Kay | It is time for the public to take control of the financial system from the people who have paid themselves so much money to lose so much of ours. John Kay is a visiting professor at LSE and columnist with the Financial Times.
Contributor(s): Daniel Johnson, Lionel Shriver | Lionel Shriver in conversation with Daniel Johnson. Daniel Johnson is editor of Standpoint. Lionel Shriver is a novelist. Her seventh novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, won the Orange prize.
Contributor(s): Professor Danny Quah | Through the stress test of this global economic crisis, it is China's performance that has continued to drive the global economy forwards. Is this likely to continue or will the sceptics of China's so-far enduring economic success be finally proven right? Danny Quah is professor of economics at LSE.
Contributor(s): Andrew Ross Sorkin | Andrew Ross Sorkin will take the audience behind the financial crisis and inside various secret meetings and never-before revealed conversations between regulators in Washington DC and London as well as on Wall Street. Sorkin will describe the reporting process of this painstakingly reported narrative; how he was able to gain access to the key players and how they provided him with hundreds of hundreds of pages of internal documents and notes that were the basis of the narrative in Too Big To Fail.
Contributor(s): Professor John Worrall | In this lunchtime series of lectures, a selection of LSE's academics from across the spectrum of the social sciences explain the latest thinking on how social scientists work to address the critical problems of the day. They survey the leading ideas and contributions made by their discipline, explain the types of problems that are addressed and the tools that are used, and explore the kinds of solutions proposed.
Contributor(s): Janet Napolitano | Janet Napolitano is the third Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security. Prior to becoming Secretary, Napolitano was in her second term as Governor of Arizona and was recognized as a national leader on homeland security, border security and immigration. She was the first woman to chair the National Governors Association and was named one of the top five governors in the country by Time Magazine. Napolitano was also the first female Attorney General of Arizona and served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.
Contributor(s): Professor Peter Clarke | Keynes is simultaneously the twentieth century's most influential and itsmost controversial economist. Why has his reputation fluctuated in such an extraordinary way? How much relevance do his ideas, formed in the context of the 1920s and 1930s, still have for the problems faced today, particularly by the British and American economies.
Contributor(s): Edward Luce | Edward Luce will explore the shared challenges and opportunities facing India and the USA in an age of globalisation. Edward Luce is Washington Bureau Chief of the Financial Times and author of In Spite of the Gods: the strange rise of modern India. Creon Butler works for HM Treasury as Senior Adviser in the International and Finance Directorate. He was the British Deputy High Commissioner in Delhi from 2006 to 2009.
Contributor(s): Karen Greenberg, Professor Philippe Sands | Karen Greenberg and Philippe Sands discuss the issues facing the Obama Administration as it grapples with the consequences of President Bush's 'global war on terror', interrogation practises and other detainee issues, including issues of investigation and criminal liability.
Contributor(s): Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Jn Carnogursk, Vclav Havel, Gza Jeszenszky, Markus Meckel | Key political leaders from Central Europe will assess whether the hopes and expectations generated by the Iron Curtain's collapse have been fulfilled. Jan Krzysztof Bielecki was prime minister of Poland in 1991. Ján Carnogurský was prime minister of the Slovak Republic. Václav Havel was the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. Géza Jeszenszky is a politician, diplomat and professor, he has been minister of foreign affairs and ambassador to the United States. Markus Meckel was co-founder of the Social Democratic Party in East Germany and foreign minister of the German Democratic Republic.
Contributor(s): Professor Noam Chomsky | Leading thinker Professor Noam Chomsky considers the state and future of human rights. Noam Chomsky is professor of linguistics at MIT.
Contributor(s): Heather Grabbe | The prospect of EU membership during post-communist transition worked wonders in many countries. What is different about the process in South-Eastern Europe? Heather Grabbe is director of the Open Society Institute-Brussels and former adviser to EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn.
Contributor(s): Xavier Rolet | The last 18 months have seen unprecedented shocks to the financial system which have had significant implications for the wider economy. As we recover, financial services and the stock markets can and should play a vital role in funding a sustainable economic recovery and social development in the UK and worldwide.
Contributor(s): Professor Philip Schlesinger | Media and cultural policies are shaped by the few with access to political power. What role can academics play in current policy debates? Philip Schlesinger is director of the Centre for Cultural Policy Research at the University of Glasgow.
Contributor(s): President Rafael Correa Delgado | Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado is the current President of the Republic of Ecuador after being re-elected for a second consecutive term in April 2009, he was first elected in late 2006. He served as Minister of Economy from April 2005- August 2005. President Correa Delgado has a Phd in Economics and a Masters in Economic Sciences both from the University of Illinois as well as a Master of Arts in Economía from the Catholic University of Lovaina the New in Belgium. From 1993 - April 2005 he was Principal Professor of the Department of Economics, "San Francisco de Quito" University, Quito - Ecuador.
Contributor(s): Wilfried Martens | Centre-right parties dominate at national and European levels. To what do they owe their success - even during this so-called 'crisis of capitalism'? Wilfried Martens is president of the European People's Party and former prime minister of Belgium. This lecture marks the release of his memoirs, I Struggle, I Overcome. Damian Chalmers is Professor of European Union Law based in the Law Department and the European Institute, LSE.
Contributor(s): Professor Saadi Lahlou | Changing individual behavior is a major stake for policies and management, but humans think and act as social beings rather than rational agents. The lecture will introduce Installation Theory, the principles of which can be used for governance. Saadi Lahlou is director of the Institute of Social Psychology at LSE.
Contributor(s): Daniel Ayalon | Daniel Ayalon is the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel. He was born in Israel in 1955. He completed his army service in the Armoured Corps with the rank of Captain (res.). He has a B.A. degree in Economics as well as an M.B.A. Daniel Ayalon served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, from March 2001 through July 2002, and as Israel's Ambassador to the United States, from July 2002 through November 2006. He has also served as a Member of the Executive Board, University Center, Ariel; Vice Chair of the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce, and a Board Member of the America-Israel Friendship League. He received the Brandeis Award of the Jewish Community of Baltimore in 2005 and the Builder of Jerusalem Award of Aish Hatorah in 2008. Daniel Ayalon was elected to the 18th Knesset in February 2009 on the Yisrael Beitenu list and in April 2009 was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Contributor(s): Christian Lander | When Christian Lander started a blog as a joke he never imagined that his inside joke would turn into a New York Times Bestseller and a piece of internet history with more than 60 million hits to his site. Here Lander investigates, explains and offers advice for anyone wanting to interact with the caucasian persuasion and needing to understand their ways.
Contributor(s): Dr David Priestland | Communism was one of the most powerful political and intellectual movements of the modern world, and its collapse in 1989 had an enormous impact on our views of international affairs and economics. David Priestland argues that we have found it difficult to understand Communism, and the lessons we have learnt have contributed to many recent policy failures, from the 'War on Terror' to extreme neo-liberal economic policies. He revisits the history of Communism, explaining the reasons for its rise and fall, and argues that we need to learn a new set of lessons if we are to avoid the mistakes of the past.
Contributor(s): Professor Andrew Gamble, Will Hutton, Professor Danny Quah | The collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008 set off the most acute crisis in the history of capitalism since 1929. Why was Lehmans not saved? Why did its collapse have the massive impact it did? And a year on, how is the capitalist world coping?" Andrew Gamble is a professor at Cambridge University. Will Hutton is chief executive of the Work Foundation. Danny Quah is professor of Economics at LSE. This event is organised in association with the European Consortium for Political Research.
Contributor(s): Dr Joan Costa-i-Font, Dr Caroline Rudisill | In this lunchtime series of lectures, a selection of LSE's academics from across the spectrum of the social sciences explain the latest thinking on how social scientists work to address the critical problems of the day. They survey the leading ideas and contributions made by their discipline, explain the types of problems that are addressed and the tools that are used, and explore the kinds of solutions proposed.
Contributor(s): Victor Sebestyen | How did the mighty Soviet empire collapse so quickly, so completely - and so peacefully? Victor Sebestyen is an author and journalist. This lecture marks the launch of his latest book, Revolution 1989: the fall of the Soviet Empire.
Contributor(s): Professor John Gray | The financial upheavals of the past two years have occurred against the background of a decade of crisis in global capitalism. The neo-liberal model has collapsed. What comes next, and what are the geopolitical implications? John Gray is emeritus professor at LSE and author of Gray's Anatomy: selected writings and False Dawn: delusions of global capitalism. This event is supported by the LSE Annual Fund.
Contributor(s): Professor Bruce Bueno de Mesquita | Hailed as 'the new Nostradamus', Bruce Bueno de Mesquita has been shaking the world of political science to its foundations with his predictions of world events. His systems based on game theory have an astonishing 90%+ ratio of accuracy and are frequently used to shape US foreign-policy decisions on issues such as the terrorist threat to America to the peace process in Northern Ireland. Considered by many to be the most important foreign-policy analyst there is, it is no surprise that he is regularly consulted by the CIA and US Department of Defence. In this lecture Professor Bueno de Mesquita will look at what is needed to reliably anticipate and even alter events in any situation involving negotiation in the shadow of the threat of coercion. He will demonstrate how to bring science to decision making in any situation from personal to professional.
Contributor(s): Louis Emmerij, Sir Richard Jolly | UN ideas have more influence and impact than is generally realized, on economic and social development and environment as well as on human rights and peacekeeping. In this well-illustrated lecture, two of the co-directors of the UN Intellectual History Project will present the findings of a ten-year project and launch the summary volume, UN Ideas That Changed the World.
Contributor(s): Justin Webb | Justin Webb will discuss America politics in the context of British media reporting, particularly in the Bush period and coverage of the recent US elections. Justin Webb is North American editor at the BBC.
Contributor(s): Eric Chaney, Professor Charles Goodhart | What is the future of banking and financial regulation following the global financial crisis? Eric Chaney is chief economist for the AXA group. Charles Goodhart is emeritus professor of economics at LSE. David Webb is professor of finance at LSE.
Contributor(s): Robert Mangurian, Mary-Ann Ray | The speakers examine the problems and possibilities of one of many dynamic new urban villages redefining the city of Beijing. Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray are both Stirling Lecture Prize-winners and principals of StudioWorks Architects in Caochangdi.
Contributor(s): Professor Lord Wallace | Article 233 of the Treaty of Rome declared that 'any European state may apply to join the European Economic Community'. In the 1950s, only West European states were free to make that choice. Since 1989, ten states from what was the former socialist bloc have joined the EU, as well as two Mediterranean island states. Nevertheless, politicians and publics in the 'old' Western Europe still see their region as the core of Europe, and worry about further enlargement of both the EU and NATO. So where does 'Europe' stop? Are there boundaries to future enlargement?
Contributor(s): Professor Christopher Andrew | For the first time, the British Security Service to mark the centenary of its foundation has opened its archives to an independent historian - Christopher Andrew. He will be at LSE to speak about his book, The Defence of the Realm. The book reveals the precise role of the Security Service in twentieth-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909, through two world wars, up to and including its present roles in counter-espionage and counter-terrorism. The book describes how MI5 has been managed, what its relationship has been with government, where it has triumphed and where it has failed. In all of this no restriction has been placed on the judgements made by the author.
Contributor(s): Professor Tim Mitchell | This lecture explores the politics of oil and how we can seek to understand it, at a time when uncertainty is presenting new challenges to the claims of objective knowledge. Tim Mitchell is professor of Arab studies at Columbia University, New York. Sam Ashenden is managing editor of Economy and Society and senior lecturer in Sociology, Birkbeck College.
Contributor(s): Tom Feiling | Tom Feiling analyses the thinking behind drug prohibition and how and why the strategies embarked on to date have failed so spectacularly. His critique draws on research and interviews he conducted with those with first-hand experience of cocaine and the campaign to prohibit cocaine, for his new book The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took Over the World. He then looks at the advantages and disadvantages of the alternatives to current anti-drugs policies. Finally, he discusses how a legal, regulated market for cocaine might work in practice.
Contributor(s): Ambassador Ma Zhengang | The world today is undergoing tremendous development, changes and adjustments. The international community is facing increasing opportunities and challenges. The present international system and structure are not able to cope with this new situation fully and effectively, and reform is the general demand of the world people at large. Both China and UK are global actors of significant importance. How the two countries should behave in handling the situation? It is a fact that China and UK are different in many aspects. Is it possible for the two countries to join hands in perfecting global governance for the general benefits of the whole world as well as their own? The answer should be, yes, we can.
Contributor(s): Professor Tariq Ramadan | Tariq Ramadan's latest book, What I Believe, lays out the basic ideas he stands for in clear and accessible prose. He describes the book as a work of clarification, directed at ordinary citizens, politicians, journalist and others who are curious (or sceptical) about his positions. Aware that that he is dealing with emotional issues, Ramadan tries to get past the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding to speak directly, from the heart, to his Muslim and non-Muslim readers alike.
Contributor(s): Peter Head | By changing patterns of urban behaviour, cities can meet the challenges of climate change. How can advanced technologies help create sustainable cities and self-sufficient urban form?
Contributor(s): Howard Davies | Howard Davies sits on the International advisory councils of the China banking and securities regulatory commissions. In the fifth lecture of an annual series he reviews the progress of reform in china's financial markets, and the implications for the rest of the world.
Contributor(s): Professor Gilles Kepel | 9/11 set off a major conflict between the United States and Al Qaeda. How and why did the Bush administration define the issue of terrorism in terms of a 'war on terror' and with what consequences for the stability of a region containing 60% of the world's oil reserves and several of America's more important global allies?
Contributor(s): Dr Justin Yifu Lin | The Optimal Financial Structure of a specific stage of development in an economy is determined by the structures of industries and firm sizes in the economy. These, in turn, are determined by the economy's factor endowments at that stage. This lecture will discuss the existence on an endogenously determined optimal composition of various financial arrangements, that is, optimal financial structure, for an economy at different stages of development.
Contributor(s): Professor Michael J. Sandel | The financial crisis raises hard questions about justice, ethics, and the role of markets. In this lecture, Michael Sandel will examine the moral limits of markets, one of the themes of his new book, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
Contributor(s): Gordon Bajnai | Gordon Bajnai has been the Prime Minister of Hungary since 14 April 2009. Prior to this between 2008-2009 he was a Minister in the Ministry for National Development and Economy. Between 2007-2008 he was a Minister for the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Prior to this he was CEO of Wallis Rt., an investment company from 2000-2005.
Contributor(s): Professor Richard English | Drawing on a wide range of case studies, Richard English argues that we have as yet failed to understand terrorism properly, and that this is at the root of our disastrous failure to respond effectively to terrorism in the post-9/11 crisis.Richard English is professor of politics, director of research and chair of the Irish Studies International Research Initiative at Queens University Belfast. His latest book is entitled Terrorism: how to respond.
Contributor(s): Professor Dominic Lieven | In 1812-14 Alexander I defeated Napoleon's invasion of Russia and then created and led a European alliance all the way to Paris. This lecture explains why and how he did this. It discusses Russian grand strategy, diplomacy and espionage, as well as the tsarist military machine, and the mobilisation of the home front. In both Western and Russian historiography the Russian achievement in 1813-14 is greatly underestimated, which seriously distorts understanding of European power politics and the causes of Napoleon's demise. The lecture explains this underestimate partly as a legacy of Leo Tolstoy but also because while 1812 was traditionally seen by Russians as a national war, the victories of 1813-14 were interpreted as the triumph of the dynasty and empire.
Contributor(s): Professor Edward C. Prescott | The recent collapse of financial markets plunged economies around the world into recession. The series of events following the downfall of Lehman Brothers last September scripted an unprecedented chapter in economic history. Whether it was enormous bail-out packages, monetary policy or quantitative easing, economies around the world took expansive steps to stay afloat. This leaves us in a very sensitive and interesting position today. Is the worst over? With US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke declaring the end of the recession, will we see dissipating unemployment, growing GDPs and bullish stock markets? And most importantly, what changes, if any, will we see in economic policy? American economist and Nobel laureate, Edward Prescott, answers such imminent questions in his talk 'The current state of the economy' at the LSE.
Contributor(s): Lise Grande | This lecture will examine the challenges of humanitarian intervention in post-conflict societies, focusing specifically on the experience of the UN in Southern Sudan. Lise Grande is deputy resident and humanitarian coordinator of the United Nations, Southern Sudan.
Contributor(s): Professor Arthur I Miller | At a key time in his scientific development, Pauli was undergoing analysis by Jung. What can we learn about Pauli and his scientific discoveries from Jung's analysis of his dreams? Arthur I Miller is emeritus professor of history and philosophy of science at University College London.
Contributor(s): Professor Lord Skidelsky | Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick. His three-volume biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes (1983, 1992, 2000) received numerous prizes, including the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations. He is the author of The World After Communism (1995) (American edition called The Road from Serfdom). He was made a life peer in 1991, and was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1994. This event celebrates his latest book, Keynes: The Return of the Master.
Contributor(s): Professor Loïc Wacquant | We need to bring the penal state back to the centre of the sociology of social inequality, public policy, and citizenship. Loïc Wacquant is professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and Centre de Sociologie Européenne, Paris. Nicola Lacey is a professor of criminal law at LSE.
Contributor(s): Tim Harford | For six years, Tim Harford has been answering readers' personal problems in the pages of The Financial Times, using the latest economic research to provide advice on dating, etiquette, parenting and even personal hygiene. In a light-hearted but thoughtful lecture, Tim explains what he has learned about whether economics really can bring us personal happiness. Tim Harford is a columnist for the Financial Times, presenter of Radio 4's More or Less, and author of The Undercover Economist and The Logic of Life. His new book is Dear Undercover Economist.
Contributor(s): Dr Vladimir Kvint | The global emerging market, which did not exist 25 years ago, now has an input of about 50% into the world economy and attracts more than 40% of foreign direct investment. The economic dynamic of emerging market countries has a strong and positive influence on the world economy and, as such, has to be re-evaluated during this development of a new global order. Dr. Vladimir Kvint, economist and strategist, is the President of the International Academy of Emerging Markets and Chairman of the Russia and CIS division of international architecture firm RMJM.
Contributor(s): His Excellency Georg Boomgaarden, Dr Mary Martin, Her Excellency Pilar Saborio | The European Union is designing a new external action service as part of the changes to foreign policy proposed under the Lisbon Treaty. This lecture examines the contemporary demands on diplomatic missions. Pilar Saborio is the ambassador of Costa Rica to the UK. Georg Boomgaarden is the ambassador of Germany to the UK. Nick Mabey is chief executive of E3G Third Generation Environmentalism. Mary Martin is a research fellow at LSE's Centre for the Study of Global Governance.
Contributor(s): Professor Graciela Chichilnisky | There is an historic standoff between China and the US on the issue of global warming. Neither wants to limit emissions unless the other does so first. In Copenhagen December 2009 the nations of the world will decide whether to resolve the Global Warming problem extending Kyoto after 2012 - or to start a new Cold War of escalating emissions - the outcome of which may determine the fate of humankind. Professor Graciela Chichilnisky suggests two modest improvements to the Kyoto Protocol that could resolve the impasse and literally save the day. These unique proposals have received positive attention in China and in the US. But will they be adopted in Copenhagen?
Contributor(s): Professor Amina Mama | This lecture will explore what a feminist perspective on militarism offers the theorisation of development and underdevelopment. It will highlight some of the ways in which the heavily gendered and hierarchical technologies of power that are the defining features of militarism and military rule have sabotaged longstanding struggles for democratisation and development. It is argued that where contemporary conflicts have been characterised by high levels of civilian casualties and abuse of women, so provoking new levels of gender consciousness and women's more visible involvement in peace activism. The challenges of strengthening women's peace activism into more concerted feminist anti-militarist activism are considered in the context of current policy discourses.
Contributor(s): RK Pachauri | India is the world's fifth largest emitter of CO2, after China, the USA, the EU and Russia. But in relative terms, India is a low carbon economy, with per capita emissions about a quarter of the global average. In spite of projected growth in emissions, these are likely to remain below the developed country average. India is also one of the countries most exposed to the projected impacts of climate change, particularly on food production, water availability and coastal cities. Already 2.6% of GDP is spent each year on adapting to climate change. Compared with the industrialised world, India has a 'wider spectrum of choices' as it confronts the global threat of climate change, with a large potential for technological developments. This event brings together experts to discuss the business and policy initiatives in India on climate change.
Contributor(s): Professor Esther Duflo | What are the constraints that prevent rural societies in developing countries from raising their standards of living? This event also explores the potential for policy change and new technologies to remove these constraints. Esther Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at MIT and a founder and director of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a research network specializing in randomized evaluations of social programs, which won the BBVA Foundation "Frontier of Knowledge" award in the development cooperation category.
Contributor(s): Professor Lord Stern | Over the next few years, we have a real chance to set a path towards a low-carbon future. It is the only realistic future for growth and for overcoming world poverty. The global economic downturn is an opportunity to invest in green technology while costs are lower. Nick Stern is IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at LSE and chairman of LSE's new Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
Contributor(s): Professor Tim Besley | It is widely recognised that the interplay of political and economic forces has a major bearing on the path of development. How do the developments in the recent political economy literature bear on the practical problems that some countries face in achieving sustainable development paths? Tim Besley is Professor of Economics and Political Science at the London School of Economics, and served on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee from September 2006 until August 2009.
Contributor(s): Professor Paul Collier | The natural assets of the poorest countries constitute the biggest single opportunity for transformative development. Paul Collier is a professor of economics at Oxford University and co-director of the International Growth Centre. The author of The Bottom Billion, which won the 2008 Lionel Gelber Prize for the world's best book on international affairs, he has lectured widely on the subjects of economics and international relations. He was the senior advisor to Tony Blair's Commission on Africa, and was Director of the Development Research group at the World Bank for five years.
Contributor(s): Ali Babacan | Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Ali Babacan will discuss the impact of the global economic crisis and Turkey's policy response. Ali Babacan is Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, a position he has held since May 2009. Prior to this he served as Turkish Foreign Minister from 2007-2009. He has been a member of parliament since 2002, serving as Minister of the Economy from 2002-2007, and was also appointed chief negotiator in Turkey's accession talks with the European Union in 2005. He is a graduate of the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University in the USA.
Contributor(s): Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is Managing Director of the World Bank. From June to August 2006, she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, overseeing Nigeria's External Relations. From July 2003 to June 2006 she served as Minister of Finance and Economy of Nigeria and Head of Nigeria's Presidential Economic team.
Contributor(s): Hooman Majd | A brief summary of how Iran's political system works, examples of what is most misunderstood about Iran, its leadership and the events leading up to the election (describing some of Hooman's own experiences since he was there). Majd will explain why the election and its aftermath may actually be the best thing to happen to Iran in a very long time, and why the vision of an "Islamic Democracy" which some Iranian leaders have, may come about sooner now than if there had been no crisis at all
Contributor(s): Lord Mandelson | With less than a year to go before the next general election there is an urgent need for progressive policy debate and discussion in the Labour party to show it has the ideas necessary to meet the social, economic and political challenges of the next decade. Peter Mandelson, one of the government's key figures, will launch Progress's autumn lecture series by setting out how he sees the political divide between the main parties. Lord Mandelson is First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, and Lord President of the Council. He was previously European Commissioner for Trade, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Secretary of State for Trade & Industry.
Contributor(s): Heiner Flassbeck, Radhika Desai, Dr Robert Falkner | Heiner Flassbeck presents The Trade and Development Report 2009, subtitled "Responding to the Global Crisis and Climate Change Mitigation and Development." The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression is having a serious impact on developing countries, and at this point UNCTAD economists estimate that it will be virtually impossible for sub-Saharan African nations to achieve such United Nations Millennium Development Goals as halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. The report recommends increased development assistance and the granting of moratoria on debt for hard-hit developing countries to limit further damage and to prepare the way for eventual recovery.