06 - Maximilien Robespierre and the French Revolution
Robespierre's ascetic personal life and severe philosophy of political engagement are attributed by some to his difficult childhood. As a revolutionary, one of his most significant insights was that the Revolution was threatened not only by France's military adversaries abroad, but also by domestic counter-revolutionaries. Under this latter heading were gathered two major groups, urban mercantilists and rural peasants. Relative strength of religious commitment is the major factor in explaining w
04 - Peter the Great
Peter the Great's historical significance stems not only from his military ambitions and the great expansion of the Russian Empire under his supervision, but also from his efforts to introduce secular, Western customs and ideas into Russian culture. Despite his notorious personal brutality, Peter's enthusiasm for science and modern intellectual concerns made an indelible mark both on Russia's relationship to the West and on its internal politics. The struggle under Peter's reign between Westerni
VU undergrads present research on presidential appointments
Two Vanderbilt undergraduates had the rare opportunity to present their research findings on the influence of patronage on presidential appointments and government performance at the 2010 Midwest Political Science Association Conference.
Listen: Implicit bias against Latinos affects all immigrants, Vanderbilt research shows
Research by political scientist Efren Perez offers insight into the intense opposition among many voters to passing any type of immigration reform. He conducted an original survey-experiment to demonstrate that the participants had an automatic negative attitude toward Latino immigrants that shaped their immigration judgments in general. Listen to That’s Vanderbilt with Efren Perez.
Pat Pattison - Writing from the Title
Pat Pattison discusses how you can gain ideas and concepts from the titles of your compositions.
21H.907 Trials in History (MIT)
This seminar examines a number of famous trials in European and American history. It considers the salient issues (political, social, cultural) of several trials, the ways in which each trial was constructed and covered in public discussions at the time, the ways in which legal reasoning and storytelling interacted in each trial and in the later retellings of the trial, and the ways in which trials serve as both spectacle and a forum for moral and political reasoning. Students have an opportunit
World War I and the changing face of gender roles
In this lesson students will assess the political, economic, social, and cultural effects of the war on the women's movement.
What is Creativity and Creative Pedagogy? - Dr Paul Kleiman, PALATINE
Dr Kleiman offers a deep historical critique of the notion of creativity and the way that in some senses it has become kind of creed. Nobody denies the importance of creativity, but nobody can agree what it is and where it comes from.
He goes onto to discuss a wide range of conceptions of creativity, from those based on psychological theories of the mind to those rooted in philosophy and cultural. The presentation ends with Dr Kleiman sharing some research that he has conducted on academics and
Faith and Politics in a Diverse Society - Baroness Amos
Baroness Valarie Amos’s political career began in 1981 where she worked in Equal Opportunities, Training and Management Services until 1989. She was a co-founder of Amos Fraser Bernard, and director (1995-1998) where she advised the South African Government on public service reform, human rights and employment equality.
She was created a life peer in 1997 by Tony Blair. From 1998-2001 she was a government whip in the House of Lords. She was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Fo
Is ITV in Trouble? - Jim Godfrey
Jim Godfrey, ITV’s director of corporate affairs, is leaving in March after three years to set up his own PR agency. Godfrey, a former Labour special adviser, said he intended to specialise in political campaigns and branding with his new company, which will have ITV as its first client when it launches in July. He is a former special adviser to Patricia Hewlett when she was the trade and industry secretary. Before that he was director of communications for leading think-tank, the Institute fo
Pirate Philosophy - Professor Gary Hall
Pirate Philosophy explores how the development of various forms of so-called internet piracy are affecting ideas of authorship, intellectual property, copyright law, fair use, patent, trademark, content creation and cultural production that were established pre-internet.
Professor Gary Hall looks at a number of ways in which the Arts and Humanities can engage their ideas outside of the traditional field of academic publishing, and how open access has the potential to liberate academia from its
6.867 Machine Learning (MIT)
6.867 is an introductory course on machine learning which gives an overview of many concepts, techniques, and algorithms in machine learning, beginning with topics such as classification and linear regression and ending up with more recent topics such as boosting, support vector machines, hidden Markov models, and Bayesian networks. The course will give the student the basic ideas and intuition behind modern machine learning methods as well as a bit more formal understanding of how, why, and whe
21H.001 How to Stage a Revolution (MIT)
21H.001, a HASS-D, CI course, explores fundamental questions about the causes and nature of revolutions. How do people overthrow their rulers? How do they establish new governments? Do radical upheavals require bloodshed, violence, or even terror? How have revolutionaries attempted to establish their ideals and realize their goals? We will look at a set of major political transformations throughout the world and across centuries to understand the meaning of revolution and evaluate its impact. By
Is there a Crisis in World Journalism? Nick Davies
Nick Davies has been named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year for his investigations into crime, drugs, poverty and other social issues. Hundreds of journalists have attended his masterclass on the techniques of investigative reporting. He has been a journalist since 1976 and is currently a freelance, working regularly as special correspondent for The Guardian. He was the first winner of the Martha Gellhorn award for investigative reporting for his work o
Deleuze’s Postscript on the Societies of Control - Liquid Theory TV - Episode 2
The second episode in the Liquid Theory TV series takes as its focus Gilles Deleuze's short essay 'Postscript on the Societies of Control' and asks why this text remains so relevant in contemporary culture.
Liquid Theory TV is an experiment looking into alternative ways of disseminating academic ideas and research in the digital age. It is a collaboration between Dr Clare Birchall (University of Kent), Professor Gary Hall (Coventry University) and Peter Woodbridge (Coventry University). This ep
21M.621 Theater and Cultural Diversity in the U.S. (MIT)
This course explores contemporary American theatrical expression as it may be organized around issues of gender and cultural identity. This exploration will include the analysis of performances, scripts, and video documentation, as well as the invention of original documents of theatrical expression. Class lectures and discussions will analyze samples of Native American, Chicano, African American, and Asian American theater, taking into consideration the historical and political context for the
The Middle Class Bent at Radio 4? - Mark Damazer
Mark (born 15th April 1955) is the controller of Radio 4 and BBC 7 in the United Kingdom. He trained at ITN in 1980. He joined the BBC World Service as a current affairs producer in 1981. From 1982-4, he worked at ITV on TV-am, returning to BBC News in 1984. He joined Newsnight as an editor in January 1986. In August 1988, he became deputy editor of the Nine O’Clock News, becoming editor in 1990. In 1994, he became Editor of Television News Programmes, then Head of (what became) Current Affai
Is ITV in Trouble? - Jim Godfrey
Jim Godfrey, ITV’s director of corporate affairs, is leaving in March after three years to set up his own PR agency. Godfrey, a former Labour special adviser, said he intended to specialise in political campaigns and branding with his new company, which will have ITV as its first client when it launches in July. He is a former special adviser to Patricia Hewlett when she was the trade and industry secretary. Before that he was director of communications for leading think-tank, the Institute fo
17.812J Collective Choice I (MIT)
This is an applied theory course covering topics in the political economy of democratic countries. This course examines political institutions from a rational choice perspective. The now burgeoning rational choice literature on legislatures, bureaucracies, courts, and elections constitutes the chief focus. Some focus will be placed on institutions from a comparative and/or international perspective.
Why all Governments Need Spin - Nicholas Jones
Nicholas Jones was for many years BBC political correspondent. His books include Sultans of Spin, The Control Freaks, Soundbites and Spin Doctors and Trading Information. He has been involved in the world of politics for more than 30 years as a journalist, most prominently as the BBC’s political correspondent and in uniquely qualified to talk about how politicians can manipulate the media.
In this Coventry Conversation, Nicholas discusses why spin is central to all governments, both Tory and
