How to Control and Change Individual Behaviour: the world as installation [Audio]
Speaker(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.
20 Years After the Collapse of the Iron Curtain: have our dreams come true? [Audio]
Speaker(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 politic
Learning How to Cite Judith Butler [Audio]
Speaker(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 America
Should management be a social science or a design science? [Audio]
Speaker(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.
People Power and the End of the Cold War [Audio]
Speaker(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 wh
Obama and the Arabs: the historical context [Audio]
Speaker(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 wor
The Future of Christianity [Audio]
Speaker(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
Creating the Organisms that Evolution Forgot: an 'any questions?' debate on synthetic biology [Audio
Speaker(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 Cent
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work [Audio]
Speaker(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.
How China Tackles Climate Change in its Wider Development Agenda [Audio]
Speaker(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.
Social Theories of Risk and Economic Life [Audio]
Speaker(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.
Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for Christmas [Audio]
Speaker(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 extravagan
The End of Lawyers? [Audio]
Speaker(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.
The Financial Crisis: How Europe can save the world [Audio]
Speaker(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 thr
Broke: voices from the edge [Audio]
Speaker(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 peopl
Muslims in Modern Europe [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Gilles Kepel | This lecture will look at the complex character of the Muslim population in Europe and explain the many different ways in which they see the world around them. Gilles Kepel is the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS.
When China Rules the World [Audio]
Speaker(s): Martin Jacques | The years immediately following the end of the Cold War gave rise to the notion that the world was entering yet another American Century. But the next century will be decidedly Chinese and the rest of the world needs to adjust to this fact fast. Martin Jacques is a visiting senior fellow at LSE IDEAS. This event celebrates the publication of his book When China Rules the World: the rise of the middle kingdom and the end of the western world.
Getting fiscal consolidation right: Lessons from Sweden [Audio]
Speaker(s): Anders Borg | Faced with a record deficit and an accelerating debt, the UK will have to embark on a process of massive fiscal consolidation in order to bring public finances back to sustainability. How is this best done and what lessons can be learned from the Swedish experience of fiscal consolidation in the 1990s? Anders Borg is Minister for Finance in Sweden and has chaired the ECOFIN Council during the 2009 Swedish EU Presidency. He has previously worked as an advisor on monetary
Why should social scientists be interested in the Cold War? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Michael Cox | 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.
Delivering a Low Carbon London [Audio]
Speaker(s): Isabel Dedring | Isabel Dedring will discuss developing and implementing a vision for a low carbon London. Isabel Dedring is environment adviser to the Mayor of London. She has also been director of the policy unit at Transport for London.
