Do Tax Havens Cause Poverty? [Audio]
Speaker(s): John Christensen, Felicity Lawrence; Nick Mathiason; Dr Attiya Waris | Defenders of tax havens argue they provide vital financial services for international trade, and that most comply with money-laundering regulations and have juridical co-operation treaties. This panel will explore the issues surrounding tax havens, in particular their impacts on poor people.
The role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide [Audio]
Speaker(s): Linda Melvern | Linda Melvern is an investigative journalist and author. A world expert on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, she was a consultant to the prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in the military one case. She is an Honorary Professor of the Department of International Politics (University of Wales - Aberystwyth).
LSE Director's Dialogue with Stephen Green [Audio]
Speaker(s): Howard Davies, Stephen Green | As the world's financial order is in a state of flux, how do we align our desire to improve material human wealth, and capitalism, with our spiritual and psychological needs? Do businesses and banks in particular have a duty to society that goes beyond the creation of profit? Does open market capitalism remain our best hope for creating wealth that benefits all of society? Green and Davies discuss history, politics, religion and economics. This event ma
Housing Markets and the Global Financial Crisis [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr André Broome, Professor Herman Schwartz, Professor Leonard Seabrooke, Professor Mat Watson | Residential property is the single largest asset in people's everyday lives and its associated mortgage debt constitutes one of the biggest financial assets in most economies. Yet political economy largely ignores both. We know that the kind of housing people occupy and their level of debt affects their preferences for the level of public spending, taxation, and inflation. Housing is inti
The Ayatollah Begs to Differ - the path to an Islamic Democracy [Audio]
Speaker(s): Hooman Majd | A brief summary of how Iran's political system works, examples of what is most misunderstood about Iran, its leadership and the events leading up to the election (describing some of Hooman's own experiences since he was there). Majd will explain why the election and its aftermath may actually be the best thing to happen to Iran in a very long time, and why the vision of an "Islamic Democracy" which some Iranian leaders have, may come about sooner now than if there had b
Turkey's Economy and the Global Economic Crisis [Audio]
Speaker(s): Ali Babacan | Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Ali Babacan will discuss the impact of the global economic crisis and Turkey's policy response. Ali Babacan is Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, a position he has held since May 2009. Prior to this he served as Turkish Foreign Minister from 2007-2009. He has been a member of parliament since 2002, serving as Minister of the Economy from 2002-2007, and was also appointed chief negotiator
An Alternative to Statecraft: should diplomacy adapt to a new world environment? [Audio]
Speaker(s): His Excellency Georg Boomgaarden; Dr Mary Martin; Her Excellency Pilar Saborio | The European Union is designing a new external action service as part of the changes to foreign policy proposed under the Lisbon Treaty. This lecture examines the contemporary demands on diplomatic missions. Pilar Saborio is the ambassador of Costa Rica to the UK. Georg Boomgaarden is the ambassador of Germany to the UK. Nick Mabey is chief executive of E3G Third Generation Environmentalism. Mary Martin
Keynes and the Crisis of Capitalism [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Lord Skidelsky | Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick. His three-volume biography of the economist John Maynard Keynes (1983, 1992, 2000) received numerous prizes, including the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations. He is the author of The World After Communism (1995) (American edition called The Road from Serfdom). He was made a life peer in
How to be Humanitarian? UN Intervention in Post-Conflict Societies [Audio]
Speaker(s): Lise Grande | This lecture will examine the challenges of humanitarian intervention in post-conflict societies, focusing specifically on the experience of the UN in Southern Sudan. Lise Grande is deputy resident and humanitarian coordinator of the United Nations, Southern Sudan.
Building windmills not walls - Hungary's approach in the economic storm [Audio]
Speaker(s): Gordon Bajnai | Gordon Bajnai has been the Prime Minister of Hungary since 14 April 2009. Prior to this between 2008-2009 he was a Minister in the Ministry for National Development and Economy. Between 2007-2008 he was a Minister for the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Prior to this he was CEO of Wallis Rt., an investment company from 2000-2005.
Cities and the Environment [Audio]
Speaker(s): Peter Head | By changing patterns of urban behaviour, cities can meet the challenges of climate change. How can advanced technologies help create sustainable cities and self-sufficient urban form?
China - EU Relations in a Changing New World [Audio]
Speaker(s): Ambassador Ma Zhengang | The world today is undergoing tremendous development, changes and adjustments. The international community is facing increasing opportunities and challenges. The present international system and structure are not able to cope with this new situation fully and effectively, and reform is the general demand of the world people at large. Both China and UK are global actors of significant importance. How the two countries should behave in handling the situation? I
The Cocaine Wars: The Mess We're in and How to Get Out of it [Audio]
Speaker(s): Tom Feiling | Tom Feiling analyses the thinking behind drug prohibition and how and why the strategies embarked on to date have failed so spectacularly. His critique draws on research and interviews he conducted with those with first-hand experience of cocaine and the campaign to prohibit cocaine, for his new book The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took Over the World. He then looks at the advantages and disadvantages of the alternatives to current anti-drugs policies. Finally, he discus
Beijing Inside Out: Caochangdi [Audio]
Speaker(s): Robert Mangurian; Mary-Ann Ray | The speakers examine the problems and possibilities of one of many dynamic new urban villages redefining the city of Beijing. Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray are both Stirling Lecture Prize-winners and principals of StudioWorks Architects in Caochangdi.
Revolution 1989: what exactly happened? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Victor Sebestyen | How did the mighty Soviet empire collapse so quickly, so completely - and so peacefully? Victor Sebestyen is an author and journalist. This lecture marks the launch of his latest book, Revolution 1989: the fall of the Soviet Empire.
Torture and Accountability: where does President Obama go from here? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Karen Greenberg; Professor Philippe Sands | Karen Greenberg and Philippe Sands discuss the issues facing the Obama Administration as it grapples with the consequences of President Bush's 'global war on terror', interrogation practises and other detainee issues, including issues of investigation and criminal liability.
A Discussion with Janet Napolitano, US Homeland Security Secretary [Audio]
Speaker(s): Janet Napolitano | Janet Napolitano is the third Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security. Prior to becoming Secretary, Napolitano was in her second term as Governor of Arizona and was recognized as a national leader on homeland security, border security and immigration. She was the first woman to chair the National Governors Association and was named one of the top five governors in the country by Time Magazine. Napolitano was also the first female Attorney General of Ari
The Long and the Short of It [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor John Kay | It is time for the public to take control of the financial system from the people who have paid themselves so much money to lose so much of ours. John Kay is a visiting professor at LSE and columnist with the Financial Times.
Fiction and Reality: writing novels in a world weirder than anything you could make up [Audio]
Speaker(s): Daniel Johnson; Lionel Shriver | Lionel Shriver in conversation with Daniel Johnson. Daniel Johnson is editor of Standpoint. Lionel Shriver is a novelist. Her seventh novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, won the Orange prize.
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
