Studying Islam across times and place: how to compare? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor John Bowen | We discuss 'Studying Islam across times and place: how to compare?' and this time we subject 'Islam' to an analytical discussion. The anthropological approach advocated here focuses on processes by which Muslims refer back to an Islamic tradition, and employ those references to explain and change the social world. Current debates in Aceh (Indonesia) about how to understand sharî`a provide an initial case study; these debates are then shown to be quite similar
Independent Prosecutors and Democratic Accountability [Audio]
Speaker(s): Sir Ken MacDonald QC | Public prosecutors must be free from political influence to command confidence. But if they are not answerable to politicians, how are they accountable to the public for their work?
Education for Sustainable Development [Audio]
Speaker(s): Tony Juniper | This event will explore the role of universities in driving the sustainability agenda. Tony Juniper is a campaigner, writer, and a senior associate with the Cambridge University Programme for Sustainability Leadership. Professor Janet Hartley is Pro-director for teaching and learning at LSE.
Sustainable Business Innovation [Audio]
Speaker(s): John Elkington | This lecture will discuss adapting to climate change within a new economic framework. John Elkington is co-founder of think tank SustainAbility and founding partner and director of Volans.
New Labour, Xenophobia and Immigration [Audio]
Speaker(s): Arun Kundnani, Nira Yuval-Davis, Joseph Harker | With immigration issues increasingly taking centre-stage during New Labour's tenure in government, and with the electoral success of the BNP and the rise of the Right arguably signalling a resurgence of racism and xenophobia in British society, this event will discuss the relationship between these two contentious developments.
Inter-party Debate: Featuring Vince Cable V. Greg Hands V. Labour [Audio]
Speaker(s): Vince Cable MP, Greg Hands MP, James Plaskitt MP | Keeping in context the events that unfolded in the recent economic crisis, the fiscal burden of the associated policies enacted during that period, and with the likely possibility of a general election soon, the LSE Economics Society is proud to play host to an inter-party debate featuring key members from the three main contending parties of this year's General Election.
LSE Asia Forum 2010 - 15:30 - 17:00 - Plenary session: Health care: trust, mistrust, voice or choice
Speaker(s): Professor Julian Le Grand; Henk Bekedam; Professor Hu Yonghua; Howard Davies | The fifth LSE Asia Forum took place in Beijing on 25-26 March 2010 with the support of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). The Forum addressed a wide range of issues of deep interest to policymakers and wider society, under a general theme relating to the recent challenges and changes that have affected the global economy. A key focus of the Forum was on the role of China in tackling the r
'Running While Others Walk': the challenge of African development [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Thandika Mkandawire | Africa lags behind other developing nations both economically and by other related social indicators. There is widespread feeling in Africa that, in the words of Nyerere, 'Africa must run while others walk'. The lecture will consider the implications of this task on African scholarship.
What About Women? [Audio]
Speaker(s): Lynne Featherstone, Harriet Harman, Theresa May | Women's votes will determine the result of this closely fought election and all the parties have mounted a media charm offensive to win their support. But is there any policy substance behind their spin? What would the parties' policies in key areas such as the economy, the family, crime and reforming politics mean for women's lives and which party would best progress women's equality and human rights?
Red Tory: How Left and Right have Broken Britain and How we can Fix It [Audio]
Speaker(s): Phillip Blond | Conventional politics is at a crossroads. Amid recession, depression, poverty, increasing violence and rising inequality, our current politics is exhausted and inadequate. In Red Tory, Phillip Blond argues that only a radical new political settlement can tackle the problems we face.
Islam, Secularisms and Law across Europe [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor John Bowen | This lecture will draw on the understandings of Islam and secularism that have been explored in earlier talks to compare recent processes of social and legal adaptation across Europe, with a focus on the contrast between England and France and further comparisons of North American and German legal cases.
Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: assessing the economic rise of China and India [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Pranab Bardhan | Professor Pranab Bardhan will deliver two lectures on the evening of 4 and 5 May. In this first lecture he will give a broad critical overview of the main achievements and failures in the two giant economies.
Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay: assessing the economic rise of China and India [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Pranab Bardhan | Professor Pranab Bardhan will deliver two lectures on the evening of 4 and 5 May. In this first lecture he will give a broad critical overview of the main achievements and failures in the two giant economies.
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.
Transitional Justice In The 21st Century [Audio]
Speaker(s): Natasa Kandic, Professor Ruti Teitel, David Tolbert. | To mark the official launch of the London Transitional Justice Network, this panel of leading advocates and scholars will explore the unprecedented expansion and challenges for transitional justice in the 21st century.
Frazer Strikes Back From The Armchair [Audio]
Speaker(s): Dr Rane Willerslev | The question which runs throughout this talk can be stated in stark form: is it a mistake to take our interest in an ethnographic phenomenon in the direction of an empirical investigation, when what is really needed with respect to its clarity is an imaginative contemplation of it? It is my overall argument that this is indeed the case and that the Malinowskian recourse to empirical evidence as the ultimate criterion for anthropological knowledge is misguided. So
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
On Narrative And Ritual [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Richard Sennett, Dr Rowan Williams. | A dialogue between a social philosopher and theologian about ritual and narrative.
Beirut Normal [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Hashim Sarkis | Is there anything to say about Beirut beyond the obvious, and by now exhausted, lessons of post-war reconstruction and identity politics? What is a "Beirut normal"? Is it worth examining? The lecture puts forward these questions not in order to diminish the city's architectural output but to reveal aspects of the city that have been overwhelmed by the discourses of war and politics. Through a series of specific architectural and urban analyses, the lecture
Art And The Limits Of The Political [Audio]
Speaker(s): Professor Herman Rapaport | A series of three lectures examining the proposition that contemporary art can go beyond transforming our understanding of the political and build new forms of political and social relations.
