Autumn 2014 | Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Professor Keller Easterling, Dr David Madden | Infrastructure is not only the underground pipes and cables controlling our cities. It also determines the hidden rules that structure the spaces all around us – free trade zones, smart cities, suburbs, and shopping malls. In this lecture Keller Easterling drew on her new book ‘Extrastatecraft’ to chart the emergent new powers controlling this space and showed how they extend beyond the reach of government. Easterling explored areas of infrastructure with the greatest impact on our world – examining everything from standards for the thinness of credit cards to the urbanism of mobile telephony, the world’s largest shared platform, to the “free zone,” the most virulent new world city paradigm. In conclusion, she proposed some unexpected techniques for resisting power in the modern world.

Contributor(s): Yiannis Boutaris | Amidst the economic crisis in Greece, something unusual emerged in Thessaloniki, the idiosyncratic “co-Capital” of the country. Under the mayorship of Yiannis Boutaris, the first non-political figure to be elected as Mayor in the city’s modern history, the city started to re-invent itself, beginning from its very own mode of governance. In this lecture, the Mayor of Thessaloniki will talk about the challenges of administrative modernisation and the necessary institutional changes Greece needs to accomplish at the level of local administration so as to accommodate the principle of subsidiarity.

Contributor(s): Professor Angus Deaton | In lectures across three consecutive evenings (9 December, 10 December and 11 December) leading development economist Professor Deaton will discuss his work on health and poverty. Global poverty has been falling rapidly, even as income inequality has been inexorably rising in most of the world. Perhaps paradoxically, global income inequality has been falling. Or has it? Many claim not. Angus Deaton will discuss recent trends in poverty and inequality, nationally and internationally, and will ask why recent growth has brought such meagre reductions in poverty. He will also argue that measurement depends, not only on theory, but also on politics, and explain why and how the politics of poverty is so often disguised as science. The lectures will ask how we know what we know about poverty and inequality, discuss the many unresolved difficulties of measurement, and make proposals for improvement. Angus Deaton is Dwight D Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Professor Vincent Descombes, Alan Montefiore | What does it mean to speak of an individual’s very identity as a person? And what too of the ongoing identity of an institution or a group? And how is the sense of ‘identity’ as that which is identical related to ‘that which defines what and who we are’? Vincent Descombes will discuss some of the multiple complexities in what he has called Les embarras de l’identité. Vincent Descombes is a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago and Director of Studies at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Paris. Alan Montefiore is Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College at the University of Oxford and President of the Forum for European Philosophy.

Contributor(s): Professor Angus Deaton | In lectures across three consecutive evenings (9 December, 10 December and 11 December) leading development economist Professor Deaton will discuss his work on health and poverty. Global poverty has been falling rapidly, even as income inequality has been inexorably rising in most of the world. Perhaps paradoxically, global income inequality has been falling. Or has it? Many claim not. Angus Deaton will discuss recent trends in poverty and inequality, nationally and internationally, and will ask why recent growth has brought such meagre reductions in poverty. He will also argue that measurement depends, not only on theory, but also on politics, and explain why and how the politics of poverty is so often disguised as science. The lectures will ask how we know what we know about poverty and inequality, discuss the many unresolved difficulties of measurement, and make proposals for improvement. Angus Deaton is Dwight D Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Lady Williams, Mark Bostridge | Shirley Williams and Mark Bostridge will be discussing the impact of the First World War on the life and work of her mother, Vera Brittain, author of Testament of Youth. Shirley Williams is a politician, academic and former leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. Mark Bostridge is a British writer and critic. He is the author of Vera Brittain and the First World War: The Story of Testament of Youth and Vera Brittain: A Life. The Ralph Miliband Programme (@rmilibandlse) is one of LSE's most prestigious lecture series and seeks to advance Ralph Miliband's spirit of free social inquiry. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Professor Angus Deaton | In lectures across three consecutive evenings (9 December,10 December and 11 December) leading development economist Professor Deaton will discuss his work on health and poverty. Global poverty has been falling rapidly, even as income inequality has been inexorably rising in most of the world. Perhaps paradoxically, global income inequality has been falling. Or has it? Many claim not. Angus Deaton will discuss recent trends in poverty and inequality, nationally and internationally, and will ask why recent growth has brought such meagre reductions in poverty. He will also argue that measurement depends, not only on theory, but also on politics, and explain why and how the politics of poverty is so often disguised as science. The lectures will ask how we know what we know about poverty and inequality, discuss the many unresolved difficulties of measurement, and make proposals for improvement. Angus Deaton is Dwight D Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Costas Simitis | Costas Simitis will examine the European debt crisis with particular reference to the case of Greece. LSE alumnus Costas Simitis served as Prime Minister of Greece 1996-2004. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Sophia Money-Coutts | Sophia Money-Coutts is a former LSE student and has been the features editor on Tatler for two years. Prior to that, she worked on various newspapers, including the the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, and The National in Abu Dhabi.

Contributor(s): Dame Tessa Jowell | Dame Tessa Jowell will draw on her experiences at the heart of government to discuss the role of capacity building and social integration in cities. Tessa Jowell (@jowellt) has been an MP since 1992. She has served in a variety of ministerial and shadow ministerial roles including as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport from 2001-2007. Professor Craig Calhoun (@craigjcalhoun) is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. LSE Cities (@LSECities) is an international centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science that carries out research, education and outreach activities in London and abroad. Its mission is to study how people and cities interact in a rapidly urbanising world, focussing on how the design of cities impacts on society, culture and the environment. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Mirza Waheed | Acclaimed novelist Mirza Waheed will be introducing his new novel The Book of Gold Leaves: a book of piercing lyricism, a story of the impossible choice between personal duty and romantic love. ‘Waheed writes about war with a devastating and unflinching calm, with the melancholy wisdom of someone attuned to but never hardened by its horrors’ The Guardian. ‘Like his great-grandfather's gold painting, Waheed's work will undoubtedly endure’ Financial Times. Mr Mirza Waheed was born and brought up in Kashmir. His debut novel The Collaborator was shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award and the Shakti Bhat Prize, and long listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize. It was also book of the year for The Telegraph, New Statesman, Financial Times, Business Standard and Telegraph India. Waheed has written for the BBC, The Guardian, Granta, Al Jazeera English and The New York Times. He lives in London. Ms Razia Iqbal is a BBC Presenter. She is one of the main presenters of Newshour, the flagship current affairs programme on BBC World Service radio. She also presents arts programmes on Radio 4, and a books programme on BBC World TV, called Talking Books. She was a judge on the Baileys Prize for Women's fiction last year; Chair of the Commonwealth short story prize and this year, is judging the Wellcome Foundation book prize. She was the BBC's Arts Correspondent for many years.

Contributor(s): Professor William Easterly | The admirable fight against global poverty has a blind spot on democracy and human rights, which are both good in themselves and also the most well-proven and lasting path out of poverty. Experts in development have too often unintentionally provided a rationale for oppressive autocrats and unenlightened US foreign policy in poor countries. William Easterly (@bill_easterly) is Professor of Economics at New York University and Director of NYU’s Development Research Institute. The Department of Economics at LSE (@LSEEcon) is one of the largest economics departments in the world. Its size ensures that all areas of economics are strongly represented in both research and teaching. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Dr Benjamin Noys | How can we imagine a way out of the stasis of a Europe mired in financial crisis? The proponents of ‘accelerationism’ argue the need to embrace forces of abstraction and technology that can escape ‘old’ Europe. In this talk, Benjamin Noys will critically explore these alternative geographical imaginaries as attempts to come to terms with the ‘uneven’ forms of capital within Europe. Benjamin Noys is Reader in English at the University of Chichester.

Contributor(s): Martha Acklesberg, Richard Cleminson, Terence Kissack | The panel brings together historians and political theorists of anarchism and sexuality to explore the importance of this relationship to how we conceive of sexual politics today. The panel will explore the history of sexual freedom as part of anarchist revolutionary practice, providing an alternative history to one focused exclusively on sexual rights. Martha Acklesberg is a leading authority on women and gender in the anarchist movement in Spain during the Civil War. Richard Cleminson is reader in Hispanic Studies at the University of Leeds. He lectures on Spanish history, gender studies and the history of sexuality. He has written about anarchism and homosexuality, the history of "hermaphroditism" and the history of eugenics. Terence Kissack is a leading authority on the history of homosexuality in the anarchist movement in the US. Clare Hemmings is Professor of Feminist Theory at LSE. The Gender Institute (@lsegendertweet) was established in 1993 to address the major intellectual challenges posed by contemporary changes in gender relations. This remains a central aim of the Institute today, which is the largest research and teaching unit of its kind in Europe. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Professor Matthew Connelly | The interwar years are vital to understanding the rise of the U.S. national security state and the government’s approach to official secrecy. World War I both revealed the dangers of secret diplomacy to the world, and rationalised its necessity to its leaders. The ensuing period was marked by intense struggles over the limits to official secrecy. Woodrow Wilson both advocated for the prosecution of anyone who revealed national defense information, but also called for open covenants between nations, openly arrived at. For Wilson, if the US did not join the League of Nations it would remain a nation in arms with a vast intelligence-gathering apparatus, forced to curtail civil liberties. It was not until World War II that Wilson’s premonition finally came into being. Professor Matthew Connelly is Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS for 2014-2015. Currently a professor in the Department of History at Columbia University, Matthew Connelly is also founder and director or the LSE-Columbia University Double Degree in International and World History. His current research focuses on planning and predictions, and using data science to analyse patterns in official secrecy. He received his B.A. from Columbia and his Ph.D. from Yale He has authored a wide-range of articles and publications, including the award-winning Diplomatic Revolution: Algeria’s fight for independence and the origins of the post-Cold War era, which has won five prizes since its publication. His most recent book, Fatal Misconception: the struggle to control world population, was chosen as one of the best books of the year by The Economist and the Financial Times. Professor Arne Westad (@OAWestad) is the director of LSE IDEAS. LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is a centre for the study of international affairs, diplomacy and grand strategy. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Dr Lina Khatib, Dr Dina Matar, Dr Atef Alshaer | In this talk, Dr Lina Khatib, Dr Dina Matar, and Dr Atef Alshaer will present their most recent book, 'The Hizbullah Phenomenon: Politics and Communication'. In this book, the authors address how Hizbullah uses image, language and its charismatic leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to legitimise its political aims and ideology and appeal to different target groups. Dr Lina Khatib is director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut and research associate at the Centre for Media Studies at SOAS. Previously, she was the co-founding head of the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Dr Dina Matar is Senior Lecturer in Arab Media and Political Communication at SOAS. Her research looks at the relationship between politics, culture and communication in the Arab world, especially in discourses of power and resistance. Dr Atef Alshaer is a lecturer in Arabic Language and culture at the University of Westminster. He is also a member of the Palestine Studies Centre and The Middle East Institute in London at SOAS.

Contributor(s): Marcelo Neri | Minister Neri will talk about the growth of social welfare in Brazil during the last twenty years, and its determinants. How have growth and distribution of incomes evolved in Brazil? What has been the role played by various public policies (such as income transfers, housing, technical education etc)? How have different groups (organized by gender, race, region etc) performed? Is Brazil becoming a middle class country? What about the middle income trap with respect to other BRICS countries? How sustainable are the observed changes? What is the new agenda on social policies in the country for the next 10 years? Marcelo Neri is Minister for Strategic Affairs for Brazil; has a PhD in Economics from Princeton University. Founder of the Center for Social Policies (CPS) at Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV); teaches at EPGE/FGV. Edited books on Microcredit; Social Security; Diversity; Rural Poverty; Bolsa Familia; Consumption and Middle Class. He was secretary general of the Council of Economic and Social Development (CDES) and president of the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea). He evaluated policies in more than two dozen countries and designed and implemented policies at three government levels in Brazil. The Department of International Development (@LSE_ID) promotes interdisciplinary post-graduate teaching and research on processes of social, political and economic development and change.

Contributor(s): Professor John Broome | Climate change is a moral problem. Through our emissions, each of us causes harm to others - something that generally we should not do. Some people are already suffering great harm from climate change. What should we do to remedy the situation? A solution can be achieved only through the coordinated actions of governments, and difficult ethical analysis is required to choose the right actions. John Broome is the White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford.

Contributor(s): Robin Renwick | Will Hillary Clinton make history and become the first female President of the United States? Robin Renwick provides an invaluable insight into one of the most divisive figures in recent US political history. This event marks the publication of Ready for Hillary? Portrait of a President in Waiting. Robin Renwick, Lord Renwick of Clifton, is a crossbench peer in the House of Lords. He was the British ambassador in Washington when the Clintons arrived in the White House. Purna Sen (@Purna_Sen) is Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Affairs at LSE. This event is hosted by Above the Parapet (@LSEParapet), a research project at the LSE’s Institute of Public Affairs which explores the stories of women in high profile public life. Credits: Tom Sturdy (Audio Post-Production), LSE AV Services (Audio Recording).

Contributor(s): Mark Phillips | We are under attack by change. The marketplace and battle-space are increasingly populated by peer competitors and those who can achieve competitive advantage with limited resources. The value of traditional approaches is eroding. We can no longer gain and maintain our strategic position in an industry, market or contested area the way we used to. Cheap and abundant supply chains, the internet, easy user interfaces and the free flow of interpersonal connections over social media challenge our traditional models. This highly interactive discussion focuses on the one element that remains constant: human decision making. It is unpredictable, complex and wickedly creative. It is the source of all uncertainty. Yet it is the source of competitive advantage. Join us for a ground-breaking discussion on harnessing the power of uncertainty to gain and maintain competitive advantage.