Spring 2011 | Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Anna Diamantopoulou | With the economic crisis in Greece, the government is embarking on an ambitious set of domestic reforms. What is the role of education in enhancing Greece's international competitiveness? Can Greece achieve the target of doubling R&D expenditure by 2020? Can the government realise its controversial reforms in the university sector and will they bring Greece closer to the rest of Europe? Anna Diamantopoulou is the minister for education, lifelong learning and religious affairs in Greece.

Contributor(s): Professor Mohammed Ayoob, Patrick Seale, Professor Avi Shlaim | The new Middle East Centre at LSE is holding a public symposium and reception to welcome Middle East specialists to LSE and to promote the work of the centre. Professor Mohammed Ayoob of Michigan State University will present his analysis of the geostrategic landscape of the region. Professor Avi Shlaim of St Antony's College will respond. The event will be chaired by Dr Hassan Hakimian of SOAS.

Contributor(s): Dr Maurice Glasman, Nicholas Shaxson | The City of London is an offshore island inside the British nation state, floating partly free from the democratic rules and restraints that bind the rest of us and fed by a network of tax havens around the world. Nicholas Shaxson and Maurice Glasman look at how this secretive network emerged and came to underpin the City's fearsome political and economic powers today. Maurice Glasman, recently appointed Labour Peer and Reader in Political Theory at London Metropolitan University. He is the author of Unnecessary Suffering. Nicholas Shaxson is the author of Treasure Islands: tax havens and the men who stole the world (Bodley Head) and Poisoned Wells, the Dirty Politics of African Oil, an associate fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and an experienced journalist. Dr Ian Roxan is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the Department of Law at LSE.

Contributor(s): Paul Mason | As countries adopt competitive exit strategies from the global crisis Paul Mason surveys the political economy of a flat recovery. He argues that mainstream economics have still refused to draw the lessons of asset price bubbles and situates the divergent recovery, east and west, within a long-wave explanation of the crisis. Paul Mason is the award-winning economics editor of BBC Newsnight, covering an agenda he describes as 'profit, people and planet' and author of the Idle Scrawl blog , which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2009. His first book, Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global, was long listed for the Guardian First Book Award. This event marks the publication of his latest book Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed.

Contributor(s): Frances Crook, Professor David Lewis, Rory Stewart MP, Karl Wilding | In 2010 prime minister David Cameron introduced the idea of the Big Society. It is yet unclear what this actually means, let alone what impact it will have on social policy in Britain or overseas. This panel will examine these questions and discuss their views on the Big Society. Frances Crook is the appointed director of the Howard League for Penal Reform. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Years Honours list 2010. She is a Senior Visiting Fellow at LSE. David Lewis is professor of social policy and development at LSE.Rory Stewart is the member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border. Karl Wilding is NCVO's head of research. He is an honorary visiting fellow at Cass Business School's Centre for Charity Effectiveness.

Contributor(s): Professor Keith Hart | Eminent anthropologist Keith Hart will be talking about his book, The Human Economy, which gives readers a new economic perspective, covering topics ranging from globalisation to corporate social responsibility. Keith Hart is emeritus professor at Goldsmith's College and honorary professor at the University of Kwazulu Natal.

Contributor(s): Edgar Pieterse | Africa is the fastest urbanising region in the world, and has become the focus of increasing attention from architects and planners, academics, development agencies and urban think-tanks. Professor Edgar Pieterse argues for a new way of thinking about African cities to accompany this surge of interest and to replace traditional views of African cities as sites of absence and neglect. Rapid urbanisation along with impressive economic growth rates for much of the Continent represents an interesting moment to take stock of how academic discourses capture and animate African urbanism. Edgar Pieterse is holder of the NRF South African Research Chair in Urban Policy. He directs the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. Philipp Rode is executive director of LSE Cities.

Contributor(s): Dr Alia Brahimi, Professor Fawaz Gerges, Nir Rosen | This event celebrates the publication of Aftermath by Nir Rosen and Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror by Alia Brahimi. While Rosen chronicles the devastating consequences on the ground, Brahimi explores the problematic ideology driving the leaders above. Alia Brahimi is a research fellow at LSE Global Governance and a senior research associate of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford. Fawaz Gerges is the director of the Middle East Centre at LSE. Nir Rosen is a freelance writer, photographer and filmmaker who has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia.

Contributor(s): Nir Rosen, Dr Kristian Ulrichsen | Nir Rosen is a journalist and fellow at the Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law; he is also the author of Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World. Dr Kristian Ulrichsen is the Deputy Director of the Kuwait Programme.

Contributor(s): Professor Robert Wade | How have changes in world power been translated into governing bodies like the G20, the World Bank and the IMF? The reality is less than meets the eye, and stalemates lie ahead. Robert Wade is professor of political economy and development in the Department of International Development, LSE.