Contributor(s): Professor Lea Ypi, Professor Andrés Velasco | Ralph Miliband has written poignantly on the limits of parliamentary democracy. But are revolutions justified?

Moralists think that if the ends of revolution are right, revolution cannot be wrong. Legalists think that since the means of revolution are wrong, revolution cannot be right. In this lecture Lea Ypi revisits their arguments and offers an alternative that cuts across the divide. She examines revolution not in relation to the justice demanded by specific agents but grounded on a philosophical theory of history that focuses on collective progress.

Contributor(s): Professor Diane Coyle | Professor Coyle argues that the way we measure the economy—developed in the 1940s—no longer fits today’s realities. The outdated framework underpinning economic statistics distorts how policymakers understand and respond to the digital economy. Coyle explains why statistics matter deeply, shaping decisions that affect freedom, justice, and everyday life. The metrics of growth were designed for a world of physical capital and demand management, not one driven by digital innovation, slowing living standards, and environmental constraints. She calls for a new framework for economic measurement—one that reflects modern challenges and enables the right kind of growth for the benefit of all.

Contributor(s): Professor Steffen Hertog | International relations literature has begun to focus on the foreign policy corollaries of populist ideologies. Populist leaders reject hegemonic Western powers, the transnational elites associated with them, and the liberal international institutions they have created. But how impactful is populist foreign policy really, given that rejection of the global liberal order potentially carries significant costs?

In his inaugural lecture (based on his research with Ferdinand Eibl) Steffen Hertog argues that populist leaders in all but the largest countries can afford radical policies only if they enjoy autonomy from international economic constraints. The main factor providing such autonomy are natural resource rents. The combination of populist leadership and resource rents creates a particular brand of radical foreign policy in which leaders combine sharp anti-Western rhetoric and diplomacy with a withdrawal from liberal international organizations. He illustrates these arguments with case studies of Bolivia, Ecuador, Iran and Venezuela and then demonstrates the wider applicability of our theory through a range of econometric tests. Professor Hertog identifies the combination of rents and populism as an important driver of the disintegration of the liberal international order.

Contributor(s): Zainab Salbi | Climate change is not gender-neutral — not in its impact on women and girls, nor in the solutions women are leading. This lecture will share new research revealing how women’s leadership is providing new pathways to address the climate crisis.

By centring their relationship with nature and its protection, they are bringing about new behaviour changes and economic models that are leading to long-term transformations within communities. Their actions are transformative, positioning humans and communities as part of nature, not actors upon it.

Contributor(s): Professor Dani Rodrik | Fighting climate change, saving democracy, and eradicating poverty are urgent global challenges, yet the world’s leaders continue to pursue outdated policies that focus on one while worsening the trade offs between each of them. Join us for this talk by Dani Rodrik where he will talk about his new book, Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World, in which he shows how the nations of the world can achieve all three objectives.

Dani Rodrik provides a bold new vision of globalisation, one in which we accelerate the green transition to achieve a sustainable planet, shore up the middle class to restore democracy’s foundations, and hasten economic revitalisation in the developing world to put an end to poverty.

Contributor(s): Professor Rocco Macchiavello | Join Rocco Macchiavello in his inaugural lecture as he explores the economics of sustainable supply chains.

Presenting insights from over a decade of research, Professor Macchiavello will examine how companies can organise supply chains that are sustainable and resilient, creating value for stakeholders beyond the organisation's boundaries. He will draw from rigorous, data-driven, research, illustrated through concrete case studies of large companies’ sourcing strategies in export-oriented agricultural commodities and manufacturing sectors.

Contributor(s): Professor John Hasnas | In conventional political philosophy, law is understood as consciously created rules that are a necessary mechanism for regulating the excesses of the free market. Although coercive in nature, law is seen as a necessary defence against anarchy. But is the situation that simple?

In his examination of the purpose and functioning of the legal system, John Hasnas challenges this false dichotomy, presenting a new theory of liberalism that demonstrates that the common law can serve as an effective alternative to traditional politically created legislation.

Contributor(s): Janet Henry, Clare Lombardelli, Professor Almudena Sevilla | Despite decades of progress, women remain underrepresented in the field of economics. This event explores the gender disparities in the discipline and what this means for economics and society.

Our speakers share research on women in economics, insights from their own experiences and advice for those wanting to make a career in economics. What challenges face women economists at different stages in their careers? What progress has been made? What changes are needed now?

Contributor(s): Professor Bishnupriya Gupta | In her latest book An Economic History of India: Growth, income and inequalities from the Mughals to the 21st century, Bishnupriya Gupta builds a new framework for understanding the economic impacts and legacies of British Rule, which she will discuss in this public event.

Using concepts and theories from economics and economic history alongside extensive new data, she charts India's transition from precolonial economy to colonial rule and evaluates its economic performance from a comparative perspective, particularly in the context of the Great Divergence between Europe and Asia. She examines India's post-independence economy and the evolution of social and economic inequality through to the turn of the twenty-first century.

Contributor(s): Dr Nisrin Elamin | The ongoing war in Sudan has produced the world’s largest humanitarian and hunger crisis—devastating a country that could easily feed itself and its neighbours.

As millions of Sudanese face starvation, global markets are also experiencing a surge in the value of key Sudanese commodities such as gold, gum Arabic and livestock that are smuggled out of the country to places like the UAE, Egypt and Kenya. This talk situates Sudan’s current famine within a broader historical context of neoliberal economic restructuring, US aid policies, foreign land investments and resource extractivism. It traces how this history is connected to the current dismantling of rural livelihoods and agricultural infrastructures and to the ongoing resource extraction facilitated by this war. Using food insecurity and hunger as a lens, the talk examines the role of foreign-particularly Gulf-actors in fuelling and sustaining the war.