Afghanistan on the brink
Professor Amin Saikal AM fom the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies ANU gives a public lecture on 'Afghanistan on the brink'. Afghanistan is in a state of crisis. The same applies to the current US-led population-centric counter-insurgency strategy in dealing with this crisis. Based on the available evidence, the situation continues to favour the Taliban and their supporters, most importantly Pakistan, or more specifically its powerful military intelligence agency, the Intra-Services Intelligen
Abandon the Alliance? How China’s rise will shape Australia’s future
Professor Hugh White's recent Quarterly Essay, Power Shift: Australia's future between Washington and Beijing looks at Australia's strategic choices in the Asian Century. In this lecture professor white explores the implications for Australia's US alliance. He argues that we can all see how China's rise will transform Australia's economy, but we find it harder to recognize the implications for Australia's political and strategic future. We take for granted the protection that America provid
2008 K R Narayanan Oration Why Environmentalism Needs Equity
"Why Environmentalism Needs Equity: Learning from the environmentalism of the poor to build our common future". Ms Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science & Environment; Director of the Society for Environmental Communications; and publisher of the fortnightly magazine 'Down to Earth', has been with the Centre from 1982 and has worked hard at analysing and studying the relationship between environment and development, and at creating public consciousness about the need for sus
Should We Ban the Burka?
A public debate hosted by The Australian National University and The Canberra Times.Muslim women's dress codes have come into the political spotlight in both Muslim-majority and non-Muslim societies. At one end of the spectrum the state has sought to enforce Islamic dress codes while at the opposite end the state has sought to ban certain items of women's religious dress.Under the Taliban, Afghan women were forbidden to appear in public unless they were wearing the all-enveloping burka. Now, Fre
India and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty
How does a nuclear power & non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty engage in international debate on the issue? Following the US-led campaign for global nuclear disarmament and a nuclear weapons free world, the international community eagerly await the review conference of the parties to the treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), to be held in New York between 3-28 May 2010. But what of India? Or Pakistan, Israel and North Korea? Four states with nuclear weapons
Socratic Forum: That Canberra is Taking Too Much Power from The States
In this debate, ANU plays host to a number of influential public
figures including ACT Attorney General Simon Corbell; Dr Clive
Hamilton, The Australia Institute; Professor Peter Bailey, ANU; Channel
10's Political Commentator, Paul Bongiorno; Karen Middleton, SBS; and
Charles Sampford from the Institute of Ethics Governance and Law.
Speakers contest a vigorous debate on issues surrounding Commonwealth-State Relations in Australia.
The Socratic Forum is part of a national discussion series aime
Building on Kyoto: Towards a Realistic Global Climate Agreement and What Australia Should Do
As a mechanism for controlling climate change, the Kyoto Protocol has not been a success. Over the decade from it’s signing in 1997 to the beginning of its first commitment period in 2008, greenhouse gas emissions in industrial countries subject to targets under the protocol did not fall as the protocol intended. Instead, emissions in many countries rose rapidly. Moreover, emissions have increased substantially in countries such as China, which were not bound by the protocol but which will
Promises & challenges in developing new vaccines, with a focus on diseases of the developing world
Learning how to harness the power of the immune system to combat infectious killers has been one of the most dramatic developments in the history of medicine. Eradication of smallpox and the near elimination of polio serve to remind us that the destiny of disease can be written by human ingenuity. These and other great feats continue to inspire us all as we strive to combat major infectious killers of the 21st Century. Success rarely comes easily and we are enormously challenge
The Dirty Politics of Climate Change
2007 may be the year in which climate change has hit the headlines and
the environment has become the political issue, but how much do we know
really know about the backroom deals, lobbying and power players who
influence environmental policy? Why have our political leaders been so
slow to act? Which are the fossil-fuel lobby groups that still set the
policy agenda?
In this lecture Clive Hamilton, best-selling author of Scorcher, the Dirty Politics of Climate Change , reveals the real influences
Dimensions of the Global Food Crisis: Session 10
Professor Jules Pretty, Department of Environmental Studies, Essex University presents "Sustainability and the State of the World Food System". 44th Otago Foreign Policy School - Salmond Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand. Friday 26 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
Challenging Traditions
The Honorable Simon Powers, Minister of Justice, Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Minister of Commerce, Minister Responsible for the Law Commission, Associate Minister of Finance, and Deputy Leader of the House presents a public lecture on Challenging Traditions - New Zealand's Justice System.
Lecture given 25 August, 2010.
Water and the Millennium Development Goals: A Case for Collaboration
Governments, international organizations and businesses struggle to achieve the MDGs for drinking water and sanitation. Join this vital, solution oriented discussion on how social entrepreneurs can contribute and collaborate in order to meet these goals. What are the most promising innovations? What is the role of non-state actors in global environmental governance and what questions of power and public/private authority do they raise? Finally, what are the ecological presuppositions of sustaini
China U.S. Climate Conference
Opening Session: The University, Scientific Research, and Climate Change
Running Time: 1 hour, 22 minutes
This panel will highlight the mutual vulnerability of China and the U.S. to climate change, and the indispensable role of scientific research in understanding the problem and developing solutions.
What's at Risk? Climate Model Predictions and Physical and Biological Impacts
Running Time: 1 hour, 17 minutes
This panel of climate scientists will describe the state of scientific knowledge rega
The Reconstruction of American Journalism
A lecture delivered by Michael Schudson, author of the 2009 report of the same title, on the state of American journalism, The report proposes new steps to support quality public affairs reporting.
The crisis of global capitalism: towards a new economic culture?
Manuel Castells draws on arguments from his book Communication Power in discussing the structural causes and implications of the 2008 economic crisis, and in claiming that we are moving, without much understanding, towards a new form of global capitalism The global crisis of capitalism that exploded in the Fall of 2008 is the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is rooted in the volatility of interdependent global financial markets resulting from deregulation,
The crisis of global capitalism: towards a new economic culture?
Manuel Castells draws on arguments from his book Communication Power in discussing the structural causes and implications of the 2008 economic crisis, and in claiming that we are moving, without much understanding, towards a new form of global capitalism The global crisis of capitalism that exploded in the Fall of 2008 is the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is rooted in the volatility of interdependent global financial markets resulting from deregulation,
How terrorism has invaded German law - Professor Thomas Weigend
Professor Thomas Weigend (University of Cologne). The threat of terrorism hit Germany in two waves, the first in the 1970s and 1980s, the second in the general context of 11 Sept., 2001. Both waves have led to extensive legislation in substantive and procedural criminal law. The 1970s saw the introduction of the new criminal offence of being a member of a terrorist organisation as well as ad hoc legislation cutting back on the rights of the defence. More recently, the powers of the State to use
Conservation: From the Farm to the Front Office
Conservation: From the Farm to the Front Office - Sustainability with a Sense of Place
James Geringer was Governor of Wyoming from 1994 to January 2003. He modernized economic planning to extensively include technology and changed how natural resource agencies work together on the state, federal and local level. He joined Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in the summer of 2003 as Director of Policy and Public Sector Strategies, focused on how senior elected and corporate officials
"The Grossest Outrage Ever Perpetrated": Sheriff Jones and the Sack of Lawrence
Pro slavery supporters gained control of the territorial government in Kansas but free state supporters claimed election fraud and set up their own legislature with their own officials. Lawrence, Kansas was viewed as the center of the illegal free state activities, though the legislature met in Topeka. On May 21st, 1856, Sheriff Samuel Jones, a proslavery supporter, entered the town of Lawrence to serve "writs" issued by the U. S. District Court at Lecompton. Jones had been directed to destro
"...encountering sickness, losses, calumny and prosperity": The Diary of Chestina Bowker Allen
Diaries provide glimpses of the routine and the unusual. Chestina Bowker Allen was 46 years old when she came to Kansas with her husband and 5 children to aid the free state cause. Her diary describes daily life and various events in Bleeding Kansas. Musical selections performed by The Free Staters (www.thefreestaters.com) and Curly Miller and Carole Anne Rose (http://theold78s.com/).
