Contributor(s): Professor Mohammed Ayoob, Patrick Seale, Professor Avi Shlaim | The new Middle East Centre at LSE is holding a public symposium and reception to welcome Middle East specialists to LSE and to promote the work of the centre. Professor Mohammed Ayoob of Michigan State University will present his analysis of the geostrategic landscape of the region. Professor Avi Shlaim of St Antony's College will respond. The event will be chaired by Dr Hassan Hakimian of SOAS.
Feb 02, 2011•2 hr 25 min
Contributor(s): Dr Maurice Glasman, Nicholas Shaxson | The City of London is an offshore island inside the British nation state, floating partly free from the democratic rules and restraints that bind the rest of us and fed by a network of tax havens around the world. Nicholas Shaxson and Maurice Glasman look at how this secretive network emerged and came to underpin the City's fearsome political and economic powers today. Maurice Glasman, recently appointed Labour Peer and Reader in Political T...
Feb 01, 2011•1 hr 20 min
Contributor(s): Paul Mason | As countries adopt competitive exit strategies from the global crisis Paul Mason surveys the political economy of a flat recovery. He argues that mainstream economics have still refused to draw the lessons of asset price bubbles and situates the divergent recovery, east and west, within a long-wave explanation of the crisis. Paul Mason is the award-winning economics editor of BBC Newsnight, covering an agenda he describes as 'profit, people and planet' and author of ...
Jan 31, 2011•1 hr 26 min
Contributor(s): Professor Keith Hart | Eminent anthropologist Keith Hart will be talking about his book, The Human Economy, which gives readers a new economic perspective, covering topics ranging from globalisation to corporate social responsibility. Keith Hart is emeritus professor at Goldsmith's College and honorary professor at the University of Kwazulu Natal.
Jan 27, 2011•1 hr 28 min
Contributor(s): Frances Crook, Professor David Lewis, Rory Stewart MP, Karl Wilding | In 2010 prime minister David Cameron introduced the idea of the Big Society. It is yet unclear what this actually means, let alone what impact it will have on social policy in Britain or overseas. This panel will examine these questions and discuss their views on the Big Society. Frances Crook is the appointed director of the Howard League for Penal Reform. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Years Honour...
Jan 27, 2011•1 hr 33 min
Contributor(s): Edgar Pieterse | Africa is the fastest urbanising region in the world, and has become the focus of increasing attention from architects and planners, academics, development agencies and urban think-tanks. Professor Edgar Pieterse argues for a new way of thinking about African cities to accompany this surge of interest and to replace traditional views of African cities as sites of absence and neglect. Rapid urbanisation along with impressive economic growth rates for much of the C...
Jan 26, 2011•1 hr 30 min
Contributor(s): Dr Alia Brahimi, Professor Fawaz Gerges, Nir Rosen | This event celebrates the publication of Aftermath by Nir Rosen and Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror by Alia Brahimi. While Rosen chronicles the devastating consequences on the ground, Brahimi explores the problematic ideology driving the leaders above. Alia Brahimi is a research fellow at LSE Global Governance and a senior research associate of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford. Fawaz G...
Jan 26, 2011•1 hr 22 min
Contributor(s): Nir Rosen, Dr Kristian Ulrichsen | Nir Rosen is a journalist and fellow at the Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law; he is also the author of Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World. Dr Kristian Ulrichsen is the Deputy Director of the Kuwait Programme.
Jan 26, 2011•29 min
Contributor(s): Dr Chris Smith | Dr Chris Smith explores present-day predicaments and tomorrow's technologies, from the most surprising facts to the most innovative new inventions, from staggering stats to serious developments that will transform the world around us. Chris Smith is a medical doctor and scientist, employed as a specialist registrar and clinical lecturer in virology at Cambridge University. He is also the founder and driving force behind The Naked Scientist, a live weekly radio ta...
Jan 25, 2011•1 hr 25 min
Contributor(s): Professor Robert Wade | How have changes in world power been translated into governing bodies like the G20, the World Bank and the IMF? The reality is less than meets the eye, and stalemates lie ahead. Robert Wade is professor of political economy and development in the Department of International Development, LSE.
Jan 25, 2011•1 hr 25 min
Contributor(s): Professor Gareth Austin, Professor Joseph Inikori, Professor James Robinson | The relative poverty of Sub-Saharan Africa today is often attributed to the malevolent legacies of its past. This forum draws together three leading contributors to the ongoing debate about institutional legacies which still affect African development. Gareth Austin is professor of international history at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Joseph Inikori is profess...
Jan 25, 2011•1 hr 31 min
Contributor(s): John Madeley, Professor Philippe Marliere, Professor Hakan Yilmaz | This series of events explores how our understanding of Europe's identity can be enhanced and developed in a new way by taking in a distinctively Turkish perspective. John Madeley is a senior lecturer at LSE's Government Department. Philippe Marliere is professor in French and European politics at UCL. Hakan Yilmaz is professor of political science at Bogaziçi University, Istanbul.
Jan 24, 2011•1 hr 29 min
Contributor(s): Professor Nicholas Lardy | Nicholas Lardy will address charges that China's recent stimulus program was flawed by, among other things, a massive increase in bank lending; the creation of a property bubble, and the weakening of market forces. Nicholas Lardy is the Anthony M Solomon Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. This event is sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank.
Jan 24, 2011•1 hr 23 min
Contributor(s): Professor Henry G Overman, Professor Ian Gordon, Alex Jones, Hamish McRae | It was widely expected that London would, in the short to medium run, be the most severely hit of the UK regions in the recession initiated by the 2007-08 financial crisis. This lecture considers why this did not happen. Henry G Overman is professor of economic geography at LSE and director of the Spatial Economics Research Centre. Ian Gordon is professor of human geography at LSE. Alex Jones is chief exe...
Jan 20, 2011•1 hr 31 min
Contributor(s): Dambisa Moyo | This event celebrates the publication of Dambisa Moyo's new book How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly and the Stark Choices Ahead. Dambisa Moyo is an international economist who writes on the macroeconomy and global affairs. She is the author of critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working.
Jan 20, 2011•1 hr 14 min
Contributor(s): Valdis Dombrovskis | After years of unsustainable growth and profligate spending, in 2009 Latvia experienced the deepest economic crisis in the European Union, with a GDP fall of 18%. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis came to power facing the daunting task of averting bankruptcy. Severe austerity measures, combined with an international loan package, have yielded results – in 2010 Latvia's recession ended and economic growth is expected to resume in 2011. In this lecture, the Pri...
Jan 19, 2011•10 hr 47 min
Contributor(s): Jonathan Safran Foer, Kristina Musholt | Eating Animals is an exhaustively-argued account of one man's decade-long struggle with vegetarianism. Part memoir, part exposé, the book examines the topics of factory farming and commercial fisheries and explores the cultural significance of food. Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Everything Is Illuminated, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian First Book Award.Kristina Mush...
Jan 19, 2011•1 hr 25 min
Contributor(s): Evgeny Morozov | At the start of the twenty-first century we were promised that the internet would liberate the world. We could come together as never before, and from Iran's 'twitter revolution' to Facebook 'activism', technological innovation would spread democracy to oppressed peoples everywhere. We couldn't have been more wrong. Morozov destroys this myth, arguing that 'internet freedom' is an illusion, and that technology has failed to help protect people's rights. Not only ...
Jan 19, 2011•1 hr 22 min
Contributor(s): Professor Niall Ferguson | 'Nixon goes to China' shattered the façade of Communist unity and dug the United States out of the hole it found itself in at the end of the 1960s. Critics have seen Nixon and Kissinger's policy as morally compromised, but was it actually the key to America's victory in the Cold War? Niall Ferguson is Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS for 2010-11.
Jan 18, 2011•1 hr 30 min
Contributor(s): Omar Nashabe | The indictment of the STL in the Hariri assassination case is expected to be filed soon. However there are suspicions that the judicial process has been politically manipulated. This lecture will attempt to show that there have been serious flaws in the STL as an international mechanism for achieving justice. Omar Nashabe received a PhD in Criminal Justice; he serves as editor of the justice section of al-Akhbar newspaper and advisor on human rights and prisons to ...
Jan 18, 2011•1 hr 52 min
Contributor(s): Dr René Castro | René Castro is the Minister for Foreign Affairs for Costa Rica. He obtained his Masters and PhD from Harvard University. His research focused on the design and development of an environmentally sustainable economy and management of natural resources. He had previously obtained a BSc in civil engineering from Universidad de Costa Rica. Dr Castro has also been Minister of Energy and the Environment, Vice Minister of the Interior, Director of the National Transport ...
Jan 17, 2011•1 hr 25 min
Contributor(s): Professor Sharon Zukin | Renowned sociologist Sharon Zukin will discuss her latest book, The Naked City: the death and life of authentic urban places, which explores the gentrification of cities. Sharon Zukin is professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and City University Graduate Center.
Jan 17, 2011•1 hr 22 min
Contributor(s): Professor Mary Evans | This lecture explores changing vocabularies of feminism and the possibilities of a new political language and new forms of politics. Mary Evans is LSE centennial professor attached to the Gender Institute from 2010 to 2013.
Jan 17, 2011•1 hr 10 min
Contributor(s): Professor Danny Quah | Does economic strength determine global power? How long can under-performing economies continue to claim world political leadership? Danny Quah presents the arguments and evaluates the evidence. Danny Quah is professor of economics at LSE and co-director of LSE Global Governance.
Jan 17, 2011•1 hr 28 min
Contributor(s): Professor Hugh Beale | A European Commission consultation paper suggests a single 'European' law of contract for businesses and consumers across Europe, which might supplant English law. Why? Hugh Beale is professor of law at the University of Warwick. He was appointed Honorary QC in 2002.
Jan 13, 2011•1 hr 19 min
Contributor(s): Pierre Calame, Judy El-Bushra, Dr Hakan Seckinelgin | The 2011 Yearbook provides a critical examination of the ways global civil society promotes and delivers social justice. How does the 'global' make a difference to traditional concepts of social justice? Pierre Calame is director of the Fondation Charles Léopold Mayer for the Progress of Humankind. Judy El-Bushra is Programme Manager of Africa Great Lakes Region and Researcher at International Alert. Hakan Seckinelgin is a lec...
Jan 13, 2011•1 hr 33 min
Contributor(s): Dr John Chalcraft, Professor Daniel Hochhauser | This is a joint event hosted by the LSESU Palestine Society and LSESU Israel Society, this debate will be centred around the following motion: "This house believes in an academic boycott of Israel". John Chalcraft graduated with a starred first in history (M.A. Hons) from Gonville and Caius college Cambridge in 1992. He then did post-graduate work at Harvard, Oxford and New York University, from where he received his doctorate with...
Jan 13, 2011•1 hr 13 min
Contributor(s): Jeremy Hunt MP | At a time when there are major media policy decisions being made in government, the secretary of state will outline his vision of the creative industry landscape in conversation with leading media commentator Raymond Snoddy. Jeremy Hunt is UK Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport. He was elected as MP for South West Surrey in May 2005. He was formerly Shadow Culture Secretary (2007-2010) and Shadow Minister for Disabled People (2005 - 2007). B...
Jan 12, 2011•1 hr 18 min
Contributor(s): Robert Rowland Smith | From Plato through Monty Python to Terry Eagleton and beyond, the question of the meaning of life has been a source of both mystery and mirth. In this lecture, based on his new book Driving with Plato, Robert Rowland Smith breaks life down into its milestones from cradle to grave: what does it mean not just to be born and to die, but to learn to talk, to lose your virginity or have a mid-life crisis? Robert Rowland Smith began his career as a Prize Fellow o...
Jan 12, 2011•1 hr 26 min
Contributor(s): Professor Steven Shapin | A survey and interpretation of historically changing ideas about food, knowledge, and the self. Steven Shapin is Franklin L Ford Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University.
Jan 12, 2011•1 hr 27 min
