Contributor(s): Professor James Ladyman, Professor Martha Nussbaum, Lord Rees of Ludlow, Richard Smith | James Ladyman is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol and co-editor of the British Journal of the Philosophy of Science. Martha Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Lord Rees of Ludlow is President of the Royal Society, Astronomer Royal and Master of Trinity College Cambridge. Richard Smith is a Former editor ...
Dec 17, 2010•2 hr 25 min
Contributor(s): Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Professor Timothy Garton Ash, Professor Mary Kaldor, Amartya Sen, Maung Zarni and others | Aung San Suu Kyi, the recently released Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate, speaks live via videolink and telephone from Burma to an audience of LSE academics and students about Myanmar's generals, why they maintain power, the country's youth, and puts forward her vision for Myanmar.
Dec 14, 2010•1 hr 44 min
Contributor(s): Professor Daniel Hausman | Preferences are the central notion in mainstream economic theory, yet economists say little about what preferences are. This talk argues that preferences in mainstream positive economics are comparative evaluations with respect to everything relevant to value or choice, and it argues against three mistaken views of preferences: (1) that they are matters of taste, concerning which rational assessment is inappropriate, (2) that preferences coincide with j...
Dec 13, 2010•1 hr 28 min
Contributor(s): Thomas Hammarberg | In a lecture marking UN International Human Rights Day, Thomas Hammarberg discusses the gap between human rights standards and realities in the EU. Thomas Hammarberg was elected Commissioner for Human Rights on 5 October 2005 by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly. He took up his position on 1 April 2006, succeeding the first commissioner, Mr Alvaro Gil-Robles. Prior to his appointment, he spent several decades working on the advancement of human ri...
Dec 09, 2010•1 hr 28 min
Contributor(s): Professor Ranjana Khanna | More often than not, a sense of belonging to a nation or a community has been deemed or imagined positive. This talk explores how many contemporary artists use and cite different forms of technology as a way of proposing a state of unbelonging. Ranjana Khanna is a Professor of English, Literature, & Women's Studies and Margaret Taylor Smith Director of Women's Studies at Duke University.
Dec 08, 2010•1 hr 22 min
Contributor(s): Gordon Brown | The financial crisis has held the world firmly in its grip since it began in 2007. In his three years in office, the former Prime Minister was at the centre of the world's response to the crisis. In his new book Beyond the Crash, Brown will offer an insight into the events that led to the financial downward spiral and the reactions of world leaders as they took steps to avoid further disaster. Long admired for his grasp of economic issues, Brown offers measures he ...
Dec 07, 2010•1 hr 8 min
Contributor(s): Professor Nicholas Baigent | Nicholas Baigent is professor at the Institute of Public Economics at Graz University and president of the Central European Program in Economic Theory.
Dec 07, 2010•1 hr 28 min
Contributor(s): János Martonyi | János Martonyi is the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Hungary, which assumes the Presidency of the European Union on 1 January 2011. Mr Martonyi has been Foreign Minister since May 2010. He is actively involved in politics as the President of the Free Europe Centre for European Integration of the Fidesz Hungarian Civic Union, a member of the Executive Board of the Centre for European Studies, a foundation of the European People's Party based in Brussels, a member...
Dec 07, 2010•1 min
Contributor(s): Professor Ranjana Khanna | In "Asylum: The Concept and the Practice," Professor Khanna will analyse conceptual links among different sites designated by the term "asylum." Extending insights concerning one institutional setting (the mental asylum) to asylum's most expansive version (the nation), she will highlight the manner in which asylums are bound not only by borders but also by strict rules. Ranjana Khanna is a Professor of English, Literature, & Women's Studies and Marg...
Dec 06, 2010•1 hr 24 min
Contributor(s): Jerzy Buzek, Professor Norman Davies | Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament and former prime minister of Poland, in conversation with Professor Norman Davies, author of Europe: a History and God's Playground, a History of Poland.
Dec 06, 2010•1 hr 5 min
Contributor(s): Professor Yezid Sayigh | Professor Sayigh will examine Palestinian political dynamics, as a critical element in what will happen in the wider context of relations with Israel and of what outside powers can or should do. Yezid Sayigh is professor of Middle East Studies, King's College London. In 1990-1994 he was an advisor and negotiator in the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks with Israel, and has been a consultant on the permanent status negotiations and on Palestinian r...
Dec 02, 2010•1 hr 33 min
Contributor(s): Lord Browne, Dr Bates Gill, Professor Mary Kaldor, Baroness Shirley Williams | London launch of the 2010 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Yearbook on Nuclear Weapons in Europe, which this year considers world military expenditure increases despite the financial crisis. Lord Browne of Ladyton is convenor of the Top Level Group. He served as parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office 2001-03; Secretary of State for: Defence 2006-08, Scot...
Dec 02, 2010•1 hr 34 min
Contributor(s): Professor Christian Ingo Lenz Dunker, Professor Stephen Frosh, Professor Ian Parker | This debate will discuss this use of psychoanalytic thought, and its limitations, with reference to the world of politics, social psychology, philosophy and psychosocial studies. Christian Ingo Lenz Dunker is a professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology of the University of São Paulo, and a practising psychoanalyst. Stephen Frosh is the pro-vice master and head of the Department of Psych...
Dec 01, 2010•1 hr 29 min
Contributor(s): Professor Derek Gregory | Professor Gregory discusses the evolving character of conflicts in the borderlands of former empires and the blurring of the conceptual borders of war itself. Derek Gregory is professor of geography, University of British Columbia, and author of The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq.
Dec 01, 2010•1 hr 29 min
Contributor(s): Dame Janet Gaymer | Law aspires to independence, and the value of the rule of law is closely associated with that independence. This is the final event in the Independence of Law? lecture series. Janet Gaymer is commissioner for public appointments in England and Wales and former senior partner of Simmons & Simmons.
Nov 30, 2010•9 hr 56 min
Contributor(s): Howard Wolpe | Ambassador Wolpe will comment on the Obama Administration's Africa policy and its perceptions of the continent's place in the international community today. Howard Wolpe is former special envoy to the Great Lakes Region for President Barack Obama. Dr Chris Alden is Co-Head of the Africa International Affairs Programme at LSE IDEAS. Michael Cox is Professor of International Relations at the Department of International Relations at LSE.
Nov 30, 2010•1 hr 29 min
Contributor(s): Dr Dana H. Allin | Dr. Allin will speak on the tangle of Middle East crises: Iran's growing nuclear challenge, the impasse on Israel-Palestine, and the consequences of both for President Obama's efforts to recast America's relations with the world's Muslims. This event marks the publication of Dr Allin's latest book The Sixth Crisis: Iran, Israel, America, and the Rumors of War. Dana H. Allin is Editor, Survival, and Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy and Transatlantic Affairs a...
Nov 29, 2010•1 hr 32 min
Contributor(s): Daniel Finkelstein, Professor Roger Scruton | The newly reinvigorated Tories describe themselves as liberal, progressive, and even radical. But these ideas have long been an anathema to conservative thinkers. Are the new Conservatives really conservative? Daniel Finkelstein is executive editor and chief leader writer at The Times and is an LSE alumnus. Roger Scruton is resident researcher at the American Enterprise Institute and visiting professor in philosophy, Oxford University...
Nov 26, 2010•1 hr 31 min
Contributor(s): Professor John Quiggin | The recent financial crisis laid bare many of the assumptions behind market liberalism--the theory that market-based solutions are always best, regardless of the problem. For decades, their advocates dominated mainstream economics, and their influence created a system where an unthinking faith in markets led many to view speculative investments as fundamentally safe. The crisis seemed to have killed off these ideas, but they still live on in the minds of ...
Nov 25, 2010•1 hr 16 min
Contributor(s): Professor Jan Paulsson, Alexis Mourre | Jan Paulsson's recent paper on "Moral Hazard in International Arbitration" questioning the usefulness of having parties themselves appoint "their" arbitrators has stirred much controversy and will be challenged at this event by Alexis Mourre. Prof. Paulsson is Centennial Professor of Law at LSE, co-head of the international arbitration practice of Freshfields LLP and one of the world's leading arbitrators. Alexis Mourre is partner at Castal...
Nov 24, 2010•1 hr 52 min
Contributor(s): Professor Niall Ferguson | Although never a "hot" war between the superpowers, the Cold War was waged partly through a series of proxy wars in Third World countries from Guatemala to Korea to Vietnam. Although a great deal of attention has been devoted to a select number of U.S. Interventions in the Third World, there is an urgent need to see the "Third World's War" in perspective, showing how successful the Soviet Union was in pursuing a strategy of fomenting revolution and how ...
Nov 24, 2010•1 hr 24 min
Contributor(s): Dr Danilo Türk | Dr Danilo Türk is President of the Republic of Slovenia. Dr Türk assumed the position of Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to the United Nations in 1992. Following the successful conclusion of Slovenia's term (from 1998 to 1999) as non-permanent member of the Security Council, Mr Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Organisation, appointed Dr Türk as Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. For more than five years his tasks incl...
Nov 23, 2010•1 hr 10 min
Contributor(s): Alan AtKisson | Coinciding with the reprint of Alan’s classic book, this event will look at how to build a bridge over the sea of despair, and show how to catch the wave to an enticing, sustainable future. Alan will discuss the pioneers who created the ideas, techniques and practices of sustainable living - the people who prove Cassandra's warnings wrong, by believing in them, and taking strategic action. Alan AtKisson is president and CEO of The AtKisson Group, an international ...
Nov 23, 2010•1 hr 30 min
Contributor(s): Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh | A decade after the groundbreaking Runnymede Trust 'Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain' report, its chair, Lord Parekh, revisits the issues of race equality and multiculturalism in Britain. Bhikhu Parekh is emeritus fellow of political theory at the University of Hull and a fellow of the British Academy.
Nov 23, 2010•1 hr 30 min
Contributor(s): Dr Simon Glendinning | Simon Glendinning is reader in European philosophy at the European Institute, LSE, and director of the Forum for European Philosophy.
Nov 23, 2010•1 hr 31 min
Contributor(s): Professor Caroline Pauwels, Dr Damian Tambini | The cornerstone of European media policy, public service broadcasting has long been characterised by transitions, questioning and criticism. Now convergence, media cross-over, EU interference and new public service management theories affect its very chances of survival. Caroline Pauwels is the head of the Institute for Broadband Technologies/Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunications at the Free University of Brussels (VU...
Nov 22, 2010•1 hr 35 min
Contributor(s): Dr Simeon Djankov | The recent financial crisis has uncovered several weaknesses in Europe's regulatory system. Belatedly, the European Commission has tried to fix these weaknesses with extensive new regulation, including the creation of several new institutions. Simeon Djankov Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria will in this lecture offer an analysis of the most recent developments as well as a perspective on how the financial sector in Europe, and its regu...
Nov 22, 2010•9 hr 53 min
Contributor(s): Professor Costas Markides | Lots of people did many stupid things for us to get into the current financial mess. Now, the government is stepping up efforts to impose stricter financial regulations to ensure that such things do not happen in future. Will more regulation work? If history is any guide, the answer is no. Over the last 100 years, we've had a financial crisis every 15-20 years. Every time one took place, the government would step in and impose more regulation - only fo...
Nov 22, 2010•1 hr 24 min
Contributor(s): Babatunde Fashola | Lagos is one the fastest growing cities in Africa, and the seventh fastest growing city in the world. Governor Babatunde Fashola discusses how his administration is managing rapid urbanization and growth of this 17.5 million city, the engine of Nigeria's economy. Central to his strategy is the view that cities must pursue a bottom-up approach to solve the environmental and social challenges of the contemporary city. Babatunde Fashola is the youngest Governor o...
Nov 19, 2010•1 hr 50 min
Contributor(s): Gideon Rachman | In this lecture to mark the publication of his new book Zero-Sum World: Power and Prosperity in the Age of Anxiety, Gideon Rachman argues that the global economic crisis has changed the logic of international relations and ushered in a new and more dangerous era. This will be characterised by rising tensions between America and China and a failure to deal effectively with global problems such as climate change and nuclear proliferation. Gideon Rachman is the chie...
Nov 18, 2010•1 hr 17 min
