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.
A Broken Middle East: a wasted decade of war on terror [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Fawaz A Gerges | Today's Middle East is broken. The crisis of prolonged authoritarianism and failed economic policies have caused chronic poverty, pervasive corruption and the rise of extremism in Arab societies. A wasted decade of war on terror has reinforced widely held perceptions that the West is waging a crusade against Islam and Muslims. Fawaz Gerges is a professor of Middle Eastern politics and international relations at LSE.
LSE Literary Festival - The Arts of Illness [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr Jane Darcy, Brian Dillon, Sally O'Reilly | Consciousness of our own mortality is at the heart of the human experience, and has long fascinated writers and artists, inspiring quite an obsession with the body and its well-being. This panel will examine the relationship between creativity, illness and the imagination.
Civil Society, Aid and Security [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Sally Healy, Dr Jeremy Lind, David Peppiat, Elizabeth Winter | The Obama administration has abandoned the term 'War on Terror' and taken steps to undo the worst excesses of the post-9/11 security regime. However the legislation, structures and practices introduced after the attacks remain deeply embedded. The event is followed by the launch of Jude Howell and Jeremy Lind's new book Counter-terrorism, Aid and Civil Society.
Risk-Based Regulation: Rethinking from a Lawyers' Perspective [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Robert Baldwin, Julia Black | 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.
Does the Electric Car have the Juice? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Len Curran, Andrew Heiron | Fierce price competition, painstaking cost-cutting, and widespread volatility is making life in the auto industry incredibly challenging. How has Renault adapted, and where does it see the auto industry heading? As a fledgling technology (and one of the great hopes for reducing global carbon emissions) can any electric car concept overcome such an inhospitable environment? Renault Group Commercial Director Len Curran and Electric Vehicles chief Andrew Heir
Do No Harm: International Support For State Building In Fragile Situations [Audio]
Speaker(s): Jon Lømoy, Dr Funmi Olonisakin, Professor James Putzel. | This panel discussion will focus on the January 2010 OECD report Do No Harm: international support for statebuilding in fragile situations, for which CSRC director, James Putzel, is the principal author.
Obliquity: Why Our Goals Are Best Pursued Indirectly [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor John Kay | Many goals are more likely to be achieved when pursued indirectly: the most profitable companies are not the most aggressive in chasing profits and the wealthiest are not the most materialistic. By understanding the principle of Obliquity we can make better decisions in our personal and professional lives
Employment, labour markets, and development [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr Heiner Flassbeck | Launch Lecture of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Report 2010. As nations struggle with what they fear will be a "jobless recovery" from the global recession, the report studies how employment can be raised in developing countries and how the participation of the majority of the population in economic growth can be warranted. The report recommends a fundamental change in the assignment of economic policies to allow for growth, inclusion, high employment and mon
IGC Growth Week 2010 - Reforming Educational Systems [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Michael Kremer, Professor George Imbanga Godia, Professor Geeta Kingdon, Dr Lansana Nyalley, Professor James Tooley | Michael Kremer discusses issues surrounding reform of education systems in developing countries based on evidence from studies on incentive mechanisms, peer effects and other interventions.
Expiring or Expanding? international economic organisations and the restructuring of world power [Au
Speaker(s): Professor Ngaire Woods | Ngaire Woods is professor of international political economy and director of the Global Economic Governance Programme, University College, Oxford.
Financial Reform in China [Audio]
Speaker(s): Howard Davies | In the 6th of an annual series of lectures, Howard Davies reviews the development of the Chinese financial system over the last year. He has been a member of the International Advisory Board of the Chinese banking regulator since 2003 and has observed the dramatic changes in Chinese banks at first hand. The Chinese system has been remarkably insulated from the crisis. What does that mean for the future? Will China turn its back on free-market financial reform? Howard
MacroWikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World [Audio]
Speaker(s): Don Tapscott | Don Tapscott is an internationally renowned authority on the strategic impact of information technology on innovation, marketing and talent. He is a hugely successful author whose books include the international bestseller, 'Wikinomics'. He will be in the UK for the release of his new book 'MacroWikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World'. Don Tapscott explains how the current economic crisis is transforming society, business and markets, and where the opportunities
State of Emergency: The Way We Were, Britain 1970-1974 [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dominic Sandbrook | The beginning of the 1970s saw Britain tottering on the brink of an abyss. Yet this time of immense unrest was also one of astonishing creativity and innovation, which helped shape society as we know it today. For perhaps the last time in our history Britain experienced the shock of the new, from celebrity footballers and the pornography boom to high street curry houses and foreign holidays. Dominic Sandbrook was born in Shropshire in 1974, an indirect result of t
Valuing the Environment [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr Eric Martin | Eric Martin is a fellow in the Centre for Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, LSE.
Talking to the Enemy: Violent Extremism, Sacred Values, and What it Means to Be Human [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Scott Atran | Editor's note: Unfortunately the first few minutes of the introduction are missing from the podcast. In this lecture Scott Atran will talk about his new book Talking to the Enemy |which is a courageous exploration of one of the most contentious issues of modern times. Scott Atran asks a question that he is uniquely qualified to answer: Why would someone take their own life through suicide bombing?
Galileo and the Infinite Universe: science, heresy, and the Inquisition [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor David Wootton | Galileo was convicted in 1633 of defending Copernicanism, but he was also seeking to undermine Christianity. Professor Wootton will show that Galileo was no Christian, and that he welcomed the idea of an infinite universe with other inhabited worlds because he wanted to show that the universe was not made for man. David Wootton is Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York, author of Bad Medicine: doctors doing harm since Hippocrates and most
Revisiting the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain: the Parekh Report 10 years on [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh | A decade after the groundbreaking Runnymede Trust 'Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain' report, its chair, Lord Parekh, revisits the issues of race equality and multiculturalism in Britain. Bhikhu Parekh is emeritus fellow of political theory at the University of Hull and a fellow of the British Academy.
Believing Cassandra: how to be an optimist in a pessimist's world [Audio]
Speaker(s): Alan AtKisson | Coinciding with the reprint of Alan’s classic book, this event will look at how to build a bridge over the sea of despair, and show how to catch the wave to an enticing, sustainable future. Alan will discuss the pioneers who created the ideas, techniques and practices of sustainable living - the people who prove Cassandra's warnings wrong, by believing in them, and taking strategic action. Alan AtKisson is president and CEO of The AtKisson Group, an international su
The Long History of Dietetics: thinking sociologically about food, knowledge and the self [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Steven Shapin | A survey and interpretation of historically changing ideas about food, knowledge, and the self. Steven Shapin is Franklin L Ford Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University.
