Spring 2011 | Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Professor Stephen Machin | In this lecture, the third in a series to celebrate 21 years of the CEP, Stephen Machin surveys significant research findings on wage inequality that have emerged from the Centre over the past three decades. Stephen Machin is director of research at CEP, and professor of economics at University College London.

Contributor(s): Charles Grant | China and other emerging powers are starting to transform the institutions of global governance. Can the EU exert any influence on the emerging international system? Charles Grant is director of the Centre for European Reform.

Contributor(s): Professor Edward Glaeser | Building and maintaining cities is difficult and density has costs, but in this presentation Professor Edward Glaeser will argue that these costs are worth bearing, because whether in London’s ornate arcades or Rio’s fractious favelas, whether in the high rises of Hong Kong or the dusty workplaces of Dharavi, our culture, our prosperity, and our freedom are all ultimately gifts of people living, working, and thinking together – the ultimate triumph of the city. Edward Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s most exciting urban thinkers. Travelling from city to city, speaking to planners and politicians across the globe, he uncovers questions large and small whose answers are deeply significant. His new book, Triumph of the City, is available on 18th March 2011.

Contributor(s): Antanas Mockus Sivickas | Corruption and generalized mistrust against public officers and against fellow citizens are mayor problem in several Latin-American Cities. This mistrust could be a consequence of corruption. But it could also be a cause. Surveys show that teachers are one of the most trustable categories of citizens. Understanding that at least part of government action is teaching might be a solution. Very elementary education exercises linked to strict anti/patronage behaviours implemented in Bogota seemed to be helpful in the fight against corruption (Cultura ciudadana, 1995/2003). Last year, during presidential election, social networks made possible a horizontal learning between high autonomous and involved electors and campaigners. Messages such as "life is sacred" and "public resources, sacred resources" helped foster basic human rights and promoted meritocracy against violence, clientelism and other forms of corruption. Antanas Mockus Sivickas is former Mayor of Bogota, being elected for office in two different periods, former President of the National University of Colombia and Associated Teacher of the Sciences Faculty in the same institution. Mr. Mockus, has been a Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor of Latin American Studies at the David Rockefeller Canter for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. He has also been a visitor Fellow at the Nuffiel College, Oxford University. Mr. Mockus, holds a BA degree in Mathematics from the Universit de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. He also has a MA degree in Philosophy from the National University of Colombia. He is an honorary doctorate recipient of the National University of Colombia and of the Universit Paris Diderot-Paris VII. He has been a researcher in the Science Faculty of the National University of Colombia and in the in Center for the Political International Relations Studies (IEPRI) at the same university. Nowadays he is the cofounder of the Colombian Green Party, having represented that political formation during the last presidential elections in Colombia held in the year 2010. During this process, Mr. Mockus gained the second highest ballot, earning more than 3,500,000 votes. His more recent researches have turned principally in the study of coexistence and the relation between law, moral and culture.

Contributor(s): Dr Kai Spiekermann | Many airlines allow their customers to 'offset' the emissions caused by flying. Is it permissible to fly purely for pleasure as long as we buy carbon offsets? Kai Spiekermann is lecturer in political philosophy at LSE's Department of Government.

Contributor(s): Professor Diane Elson, Professor Nancy Folbre, Professor Maxine Molyneux | Each speaker will briefly reflect on a theme inspired by or departing from the International Handbook of Gender and Poverty by Sylvia Chant, after which there will be a question and answer session with the audience. Diane Elson is professor of sociology at the University of Essex. Nancy Folbre is professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Maxine Molyneux is professor of sociology and director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas, at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. This event is supported by the LSE Annual Fund. There will be a reception in the Atrium after the lecture open to all audience members.

Contributor(s): Professor Anthony Grayling | Philosophy has an important role in public life. Anthony Grayling is one of the most prominent public faces of philosophy in the UK. He is professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College and a supernumerary fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford.

Contributor(s): Alec Ross | Technology and innovation have changed the conditions for statecraft in the 21st century. Just as the internet has changed economics, culture, and politics, it is also transforming the practice of foreign policy. It is not simply the fact that more people are using ever more sophisticated technologies; the structural and demographic changes that have accompanied these quantum leaps in connection technologies are highly disruptive. Recent events in North Africa and the Middle East have put a spotlight on these phenomena. The United States is responding to these shifts in international relations by extending the reach of our diplomacy beyond government-to-government communications. We are adapting our statecraft by reshaping our development and diplomatic agendas to meet old challenges in new ways and by deploying one of America's great assets – innovation. This is 21st Century Statecraft – complementing traditional foreign policy tools with newly innovated and adapted instruments of statecraft that fully leverage the networks, technologies, and demographics of our interconnected world. Alec Ross serves as Senior Advisor for Innovation in the Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In this role, Alec is tasked with maximizing the potential of technology in service of America's diplomatic and development goals. Prior to his service at the State Department, Alec worked on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team and served as Convener for Obama for America's Technology, Media & Telecommunications Policy Committee. In 2000, Alec Ross and three colleagues co-founded One Economy, a global nonprofit that uses innovative approaches to deliver the power of technology and information about education, jobs, health care and other vital issues to low-income people. During his eight years at One Economy, it grew from a team of four people working in a basement to the world's largest digital divide organization, with programs on four continents. Alec started his career as a sixth grade teacher in inner-city Baltimore through Teach for America. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Contributor(s): Mary Robinson | The debate on climate change is moving from stopping it to how best to manage its effects. Climate justice links human rights and development to achieve a human-centered approach to the issue, safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable and sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its resolution equitably and fairly. Mary Robinson was president of Ireland (1990-1997) and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002).

Contributor(s): Sir Michael Lyons | The out-going chairman of the BBC's governing body will give his view on the future of the corporation and its role in British society. Michael Lyons is the outgoing chairman of the BBC Trust.