Latest 300 | LSE Public lectures and events | Audio and pdf

Speaker(s): Professor Julia Black, Professor Simon Deakin, Sean Ennis | Theresa May’s claim that free market capitalism constitutes “the greatest agent of collective human progress ever created” raises a complex question: can markets pursue social values? Julia Black is Pro Director for Research and Professor in the Department of Law, LSE. Simon Deakin is Professor of Law, University of Cambridge and Director of the Centre for Business Research. Sean Ennis is Senior Economist, Competition Division, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris. Niamh Dunne, Assistant Professor of Law, LSE. LSE Law (@lselaw) is an integral part of the School's mission, plays a major role in policy debates & in the education of lawyers and law teachers from around the world. This event is part of LSE Beveridge 2.0, a series of public engagement activities rethinking the welfare state for the 21st century and the global context. Update, Tuesday 8 May: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Martin Cave is no longer able to speak at this event. LSE apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Speaker(s): Professor Elizabeth Anderson, Omar Khan | Women and minority groups are significantly under-represented in politics and various other walks of life. 'Affirmative action' is one response in tackling this enduring issue. But what is it? Who is it for? And why does it generate so much controversy? We discuss these questions and explore the relationship between affirmative action and social justice. Elizabeth Anderson is John Dewey Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, University of Michigan. Omar Khan (@omaromalleykhan) is Director, Runnymede; Governor, University of East London. Sarah Fine (@DrSJFine) is a Fellow, the Forum; Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, KCL. The Forum for European Philosophy (@ForumPhilosophy) is an educational charity that organises a full and varied programme of philosophy and interdisciplinary events in the UK.

Speaker(s): Rachel Holmes | On the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, Rachel Holmes remembers and reflects on the roles of revolutionary thinking and militancy in winning votes for women. The complacency of hindsight leads many in modern Britain to believe universal suffrage and votes for women to have been obvious and inevitable. The length and difficulty of the struggle and the vital roles of revolutionary thinking and militancy is almost airbrushed from our history. Rachel Holmes is Sylvia Pankhurst’s most recent biographer. Anne Phillips is the Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science in the Department of Government The Ralph Miliband Programme (@RMilibandLSE) is one of LSE's most prestigious lecture series and seeks to advance Ralph Miliband's spirit of free social inquiry.

Speaker(s): Dr Pedro Sanchez | The leader of the opposition in Spain, Pedro Sánchez, will analyse the political, social and economic factors that have led to the growth of populism and secessionism in Catalonia and will propose possible solutions to the current political blockade in Spain. Dr Pedro Sanchez (@sanchezcastejon) is currently Secretary General of PSOE (Spanish Socialists and Workers' Party), leader of the opposition in Spain and vice president of the Socialist International. He was also Secretary-General of the PSOE, leader of the opposition and candidate to the Presidency of the Spanish Government in the period 2014-2016. Between 2009-2016 he was Member of the Spanish Parliament. He was also Senior Lecturer in Global Economics and Economic History at the Camilo José Cela University in Madrid (Spain) from 2008 to 2014. Previously, Dr Sanchez also served as Member of the Madrid City Council and as an adviser at different international institutions, including the European Parliament and the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia Herzegovina. He studied economics at the Complutense University of Madrid and holds a PhD in economics from the Camilo José Cela University as well as master's degrees from Ortega y Gasset Institute, and the Free University of Brussels. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish. Paul Preston is the Príncipe de Asturias Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies and Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies at the London School of Economics. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector. The Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies is a research centre at the London School of Economics with a focus on a flourishing interest in contemporary Spain in Britain. The Dahrendorf Forum (@DahrendorfForum) is a joint initiative between the LSE and the Hertie School of Governance, funded by Mercator Stiftung. LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. We connect academic knowledge of diplomacy and strategy with the people who use it.

Speaker(s): Dr. Dambisa Moyo | In Dr. Dambisa Moyo's new book, Edge of Chaos, which she will talk about at this event, she offers a radical menu of ten ways to improve democracy: making it better able to address the range of headwinds that the global economy faces (including technology and the prospects of a jobless underclass, demographic shifts, gapping income inequality, an unsustainable debt burden, natural resource scarcity and declining productivity) and deliver more economic growth and prosperity. Dr.Dambisa Moyo (@dambisamoyo) is an international economist who writes on the macroeconomy and global affairs. Professor Erik Berglof (@ErikBerglof) became the inaugural Director of the Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) on 1 February 2015. He joined the School as a Professor in Practice in the Department of Economics. The Institute of Global Affairs (@LSEIGA), its Global Policy Lab and seven constituent centres bring together LSE faculty and students from across departments to design research-based and locally rooted solutions to global challenges. Based at LSE, the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa (@AfricaAtLSE) promotes independent academic research and teaching; open and issue-oriented debate; and evidence-based policy making. The Centre accomplishes this by connecting different social science disciplines and by working in partnership with Africa bringing African voices to the global debate.

Speaker(s): James Ball, Professor Charlie Beckett, Sophie Gaston | The LSE Truth, Trust and Technology Commission is working with experts, practitioners and the public to identify structural causes of media misinformation and set out a new framework for strategic policy. The four themes it is looking at are: journalism credibility, platform responsibility, political communications and media literacy and citizenship. At this event the audience is invited to put questions and views about misinformation direct to our expert panel. James Ball (@jamesrbuk) is a Commissioner of the LSE T3 project and the author of Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World. Charlie Beckett (@CharlieBeckett) is a Professor in LSE's Department of Media and Communications and Director of the Truth, Trust and Technology Commission. Damian Collins MP (@DamianCollins) is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe, Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and Commissioner on the Truth, Trust and Technology Commission. Sophie Gaston (@sophgaston) is Deputy Director and Head of International Research at Demos. Sonia Livingstone (@Livingstone_S) is Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE and Chair of the LSE Truth, Trust and Technology Commission. The Department of Media and Communications (@MediaLSE) is a world-leading centre for education and research in communication and media studies at the heart of LSE’s academic community in central London. We are ranked #1 in the United Kingdom and #3 globally in our field (2018 QS World University Rankings). Update, Monday 30 April: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Baroness Kidron is no longer able to speak at this event, but we are delighted to be joined by Sophie Gaston.

Speaker(s): Professor Simon Glendinning, Professor Elspeth Guild, Dr Natascha Zaun | What does a map tell us about Europe? What does it leave out? Prominent scholars in law, philosophy and political science reflect on how the age of cross-border flows from within and without Europe pose questions of how to map Europe and its peoples with renewed force. Simon Glendinning (@lonanglo) is Professor of European Philosophy at LSE’s European Institute and Director of the Forum for European Philosophy. Elspeth Guild is Jean Monnet Professor ad personam at Queen Mary, University of London and Radboud University Nijmegen. Natascha Zaun is Assistant Professor in Migration Studies at LSE’s European Institute. Robert Basedow is Assistant Professor in International Political Economy at the LSE European Institute. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector. The LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series (LEQS) was established in May 2009 to publish high quality research on Europe and the European Union from scholars across LSE and beyond.

Speaker(s): Professor Nic Cheeseman, Dr Brian Klaas | In this talk, Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas show how to rig an election - with the hopes that the lesson will help save democracy. The greatest political paradox of our time is this: there are more elections than ever before but the world is becoming less democratic. Elections are often the frontlines in a global battle for democracy. Dictators, despots, and counterfeit democrats hold elections to legitimize their regime, but then rig them to ensure that they maintain their iron grip on power. Vote buying. Violent repression. Assassinating rivals. Gerrymandering. Voter suppression. Ballot box stuffing. And the digital frontier of hacking and disinformation campaigns. Nic Cheeseman (@Fromagehomme) is Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham and was formerly the Director of the African Studies Centre at Oxford University. He is the recipient of the GIGA award for the best article in Comparative Area Studies (2013) and the Frank Cass Award for the best article in Democratization (2015). He is also the author of Democracy in Africa: Successes, failures and the struggle for political reform (Cambridge University Press, 2015), the founding editor of the Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Politics, a former editor of the journal African Affairs, and an advisor to, and writer for, Kofi Annan's African Progress Panel. Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) is a Fellow in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. Klaas is an expert on democracy, authoritarianism, American politics, and elections. He is the author of The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy, The Despot's Accomplice: How the West is Aiding & Abetting the Decline of Democracy, and How to Rig an Election (co-authored with Professor Nic Cheeseman; Yale University Press 2018). Klaas is also a columnist for The Washington Post. Catherine Boone joined the LSE as Professor of Comparative Politics in 2013. She holds a BA from the University of California, and Ph.D from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Department of Government (@LSEGovernment) at LSE is one of the largest political science departments in the UK. Our activities cover a comprehensive range of approaches to the study of politics.

Speaker(s): Dr Jessica Chiba, John Crace, Tim Crouch | For Victor Hugo, ‘all forms of the multiple reality, actions and ideas, man and humanity’ can be found in Shakespeare. Perhaps this is the reason why, over 400 years after his death, we continue to study, perform, and re-read his plays in search of truths about ourselves and the world. Should we think of Shakespeare as a philosopher? Can reading him philosophically add to our understanding of his work, or is it simply another way of trying to contain this ‘myriad-minded’ (Coleridge) thinker? Jessica Chiba is a Teaching Fellow in English, Royal Holloway, University of London. John Crace (@JohnJCrace) is a journalist, critic, and author of the Penguin Incomplete Shakespeare series. Tim Crouch (@timcrouch1964) is a playwright and theatre maker. Danielle Sands (@DanielleCSands) is a Lecturer in Comparative Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London and a Forum for European Philosophy Fellow. The Forum for European Philosophy (@ForumPhilosophy) is an educational charity that organises a full and varied programme of philosophy and interdisciplinary events in the UK.

Speaker(s): Tony Barber, Professor Catherine De Vries, Professor Simon Hix | The European Union is facing turbulent times. It is plagued by deep divisions over the future of European integration. This panel brings together experts who will discuss how Brexit and the rise of Euroscepticism on the continent may shape the contours of the European project in the coming years. Tony Barber (@TonyBarber8) is Europe Editor of the Financial Times. Catherine De Vries (@CatherineDVries) is Professor of Politics and Director of the Essex Centre of Experimental Social Science, Department of Government, University of Essex. Simon Hix (@simonjhix) is Harold Laski Professor of Political Science, Department of Government, LSE. Sara Hobolt (@sarahobolt) is Sutherland Chair in European Institutions at the European Institute and the Department of Government, London School of Economics. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector.