Contributor(s): Professor David Spiegelhalter | There has been a traditional division between 'risk', which can be quantified using probability distributions, and 'uncertainty', which is the surrounding mess of doubt, disagreement and ignorance. Spiegelhalter will use examples from swine flu to climate change to illustrate different approaches to dealing with uncertainty, from ignoring it to trying to fully quantify it, and conclude that we should all try to be aware and open about the magnitude...
Nov 17, 2010•1 hr 4 min
Contributor(s): Professor Fawaz Gerges | Fawaz A. Gerges is a Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He also holds the Emirates Chair of the Contemporary Middle East and is the Director of the Middle East Centre at LSE. Gerges is author of two recently acclaimed books: Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy (Harcourt Press, 2007), and The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global (Cambridge University Press, 2005...
Nov 16, 2010•1 hr 32 min
Contributor(s): Professor John Van Reenen | The financial crisis and the great recession dealt the global economy a massive shock. How can growth be put back on a sustainable path? What policy lessons have we learned? And how should Britain respond? John Van Reenen is professor of economics at LSE and the director of the Centre for Economic Performance.
Nov 16, 2010•1 hr 24 min
Contributor(s): Polly Toynbee, David Walker | We've had Mandelson's memoirs, Blair's book and Brown biographies: in this lecture Polly Toynbee and David Walker look at what the Labour government in power from 1997 meant for people's lives by charting what it accomplished. Polly Toynbee is an author and a political and social commentator for the Guardian. David Walker edits Public and was formerly chief leader writer of the Independent. They are co-authors of 'The Verdict: Did Labour Change Brita...
Nov 16, 2010•1 hr 11 min
Contributor(s): Raghav Bahl | After decades working with foreign investors, multinationals, and his own native government, Raghav Bahl knows that most of the world underestimates and largely misunderstands India and its potential in the global economy, particularly when set against its neighbour and economic powerhouse China. In his new book 'Superpower?' he takes a close look at who is likely to dominate the world over the next decade - India or China - and provides an incisive and in-depth ana...
Nov 15, 2010•1 hr 13 min
Contributor(s): Álvaro García Linera | The LSE IDEAS Latin America International Affairs Programme is pleased to announce a lecture by Bolivia's vice president Álvaro García Linera as part of its 2010-11 International Peace and Security in Latin America events series.
Nov 11, 2010•1 hr 41 min
Contributor(s): Professor David Wootton | Galileo was convicted in 1633 of defending Copernicanism, but he was also seeking to undermine Christianity. Professor Wootton will show that Galileo was no Christian, and that he welcomed the idea of an infinite universe with other inhabited worlds because he wanted to show that the universe was not made for man. David Wootton is Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York, author of Bad Medicine: doctors doing harm since Hippocrates and ...
Nov 11, 2010•1 hr 18 min
Contributor(s): Dr Paul Slovic | Dr. Slovic will describe the laboratory experiments that led to the concept of risk as feelings and illustrate some insights gleaned from this perspective for behaviours as diverse as cigarette smoking and apathy toward large scale natural and human caused disasters. Dr. Slovic studies judgment and decision processes with an emphasis on decision making under conditions of risk. His work examines fundamental issues such as the influence of affect on judgments and ...
Nov 11, 2010•1 hr 14 min
Contributor(s): Alexander Stubb | Alexander Stubb, Finland's Foreign Minister is a graduate of the LSE. He became Minister for Foreign Affairs in April 2008. Before that he served for four years as a member of the European Parliament.
Nov 11, 2010•7 hr 46 min
Contributor(s): Will Hutton, Dr Christopher Davidson | Will Hutton, executive vice chair of the Work Foundation, former editor in chief of The Observer. Dr Christopher Davidson, senior lecturer at the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Durham University.
Nov 11, 2010•33 min
Contributor(s): Professor Ian Clark | International relations theory is weak on how international order is managed under a preponderance of power. This lecture explores the notion of hegemony as a theoretical solution, and develops the thought of Martin Wight in this respect. Ian Clark is E H Carr Professor of International Politics at the University of Aberystwyth and a fellow of the British Academy.
Nov 10, 2010•1 hr 17 min
Contributor(s): Zoran Vujic, Zoran Jeftic, Sonja Stojanovic, Bojan Brkic | Zoran Vujic is Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs. Zoran Jeftic is Deputy Minister of Defence. Sonja Stojanovic is Director of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy. Bojan Brkic is Deputy Editor in Chief of Radio Television Serbia.
Nov 10, 2010•1 hr 32 min
Contributor(s): Dr Michael O'Malley | When Michael O'Malley first took up beekeeping he thought it would be a nice hobby to share with his son. But he noticed that bees not only work together to achieve a common goal but, in the process, create a remarkably productive organisation. O'Malley's new book The Wisdom of Bees shows what bees can teach managers and provides insight into decision-making, communication and forward planning. This event celebrates the publication of Michael O'Malleys new b...
Nov 10, 2010•1 hr 15 min
Contributor(s): Dr. Steve Woolcock, Dr. Jan Kleinheisterkamp and others | The workshop will present a recent study for the European Parliament on the Commissions communication and draft Regulation on the future of investment treaty law after Lisbon, with commentators from the EU Commission, the UK government and investment arbitration practice. Dr Steve Woolcock is the director of the International Trade Policy Unit of the LSE International Relations Department. Dr. Jan Kleinheisterkamp is headi...
Nov 10, 2010•2 hr 21 min
Contributor(s): Professor Scott Atran | In this lecture Scott Atran will talk about his new book Talking to the Enemy |which is a courageous exploration of one of the most contentious issues of modern times. Scott Atran asks a question that he is uniquely qualified to answer: Why would someone take their own life through suicide bombing?
Nov 09, 2010•1 hr 9 min
Contributor(s): Vineet Nayar | Differentiation is crucial to maintaining and growing market share. But many organisations lack the courage to look inwards and discover exactly what their competitive advantage is and change accordingly. However, 5 years ago the Delhi-based IT Service provider HCL Technologies started on a change journey that identified exactly where their strengths and weaknesses lay and culminated in an entirely new management philosophy and organisational culture - one in which...
Nov 09, 2010•1 hr 7 min
Contributor(s): Satish Kumar | When he was nine Satish joined the wandering brotherhood of Jain monks. At 18, he became a campaigner for land reform, working to turn Gandhi's vision of renewed India and a peaceful world into reality. Satish Kumar is a visiting fellow at Schumacher College, a residential centre for study of ecological and spiritual values. He founded the Small School, with ecological and spiritual values in its curriculum.
Nov 09, 2010•1 hr 16 min
Contributor(s): Dr Eric Martin | Eric Martin is a fellow in the Centre for Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, LSE.
Nov 09, 2010•1 hr 21 min
Contributor(s): Professor Paul Pierson, Professor Anton Hemerijck, Professor Julian Le Grand | The lecture and panel discussion celebrate the T H Marshall Fellowship scheme, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, which has been running for seven years. The event also launches the Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State |and will be followed by a reception. Paul Pierson has been a professor of public policy and holder of the Avice Sarint Chair of Public Policy at Berkeley since 2004. Anton Hemerijck i...
Nov 09, 2010•1 hr 27 min
Contributor(s): José Viñals | José Viñals was appointed to the position of Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund on April 15, 2009. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Viñals was Deputy Governor at the Bank of Spain from July 2006.
Nov 09, 2010•10 hr 50 min
Contributor(s): George Papaconstantinou | The Greek sovereign debt crisis of 2010 has received world-wide attention and has elicited unprecedented action by the European Union and its member governments as well as by the IMF. Greece is now obliged to follow the terms of the 'Memorandum' agreed with the 'bail-out' loan it has received. Is Greek economic policy on track? What are its future prospects?
Nov 08, 2010•1 hr 18 min
Contributor(s): Professor Robert O Keohane | There is no integrated regime governing efforts to limit climate change. Instead, there is a 'regime complex'… but can this work to resolve climate change? Robert Keohane is professor of international affairs, Princeton University, and the author of After Hegemony.
Nov 08, 2010•1 hr 28 min
Contributor(s): Professor Patrick Haggard, Dr Amber Jacobs, Professor Thomas Pink | Is freedom part of human nature? And how can freedom be both a human power and a human right? Patrick Haggard is a professor at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and in the Department of Psychology, UCL. Amber Jacobs is a lecturer in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. Thomas Pink is a professor of philosophy at King's College London.
Nov 04, 2010•1 hr 32 min
Contributor(s): Judge Sergio Gabriel Torres | Under the military government of 1976-1983, Argentina suffered massive and systematic violations of human rights, the consequences of which still linger today. Sergio Torres is a federal judge, presiding over a case that involves more than 800 incidents of illegal detentions, torture, disappearances and deaths. Chetan Bhatt is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, LSE.
Nov 04, 2010•1 hr 28 min
Contributor(s): Olivier Blanchard | A strong and sustained world recovery requires two rebalancing acts. Internal, with a shift, in advanced countries, from fiscal support to private demand. External, with an increase in net exports in deficit countries, notably the US, and a decrease in net exports in surplus countries, notably China. Policy should be aimed at increasing their pace. This lecture is one in a series of lectures to celebrate 21 years of the Centre for Economic Performance. Olivier...
Nov 04, 2010•1 hr 22 min
Contributor(s): Professor Michael Cox, Howard Davies, Professor Fawaz Gerges, Professor Christopher Hill, Professor Margot Light, Dr Justin Rosenberg | This public event is an intellectual appreciation of Professor Fred Halliday who worked at the London School of Economics and Political Science for more than 20 years and who sadly passed away in April 2010. Michael Cox is professor of international relations at LSE. Howard Davies is director of LSE. Fawaz Gerges is professor of middle eastern po...
Nov 03, 2010•1 hr 17 min
Contributor(s): Steven Johnson | Steven Johnson has spent twenty years immersed in creative industries, was active at the dawn of the internet and has a unique perspective that draws on his fluency in fields ranging from neurobiology to new media. In his new book, he identifies the key principles to the genesis of great ideas, from the cultivation of hunches to the importance of connectivity and how best to make use of new technologies. By recognising where and how patterns of creativity occur –...
Nov 02, 2010•1 hr 4 min
Contributor(s): Saad Hariri | Saad Hariri is President of the Council of Ministers of the Lebanese Republic, a position he has held since November 2009. He is the leader of the Future Movement, which currently holds the majority in Lebanon's parliament. He entered the political domain in 2005 following the assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Prior to politics, he held several high level roles in business as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Oger Telecom, Chairma...
Nov 02, 2010•1 hr 12 min
Contributor(s): Will Hutton | Will Hutton discusses the issues raised in his new book 'Them and Us: politics, greed and inequality' – why we need a fair society. Will Hutton is the executive vice-chair of The Work Foundation and senior visiting fellow at LSE Global Governance.
Nov 02, 2010•1 hr 32 min
Contributor(s): Chris Huhne MP | In this keynote talk Chris Huhne will set out the economic need for low-carbon growth as an essential path out of recession. He will argue that the need to urgently renew and decarbonise our energy supply, and to upgrade our ageing and inefficient buildings, will not just provide an economic boost but also help to create a more balanced, resilient and sustainable British economy. Chris Huhne is Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and the Liberal Dem...
Nov 02, 2010•15 hr 36 min
