Spring 2012 | Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Professor Alexander Kamenskii | In the course of the eighteenth century, Russia became an active participant in European diplomatic relations. But to what extent was Russia part of Europe? And is it possible to study Europe without including Russia? Alexander Kamenskii is deacon of the Faculty of History and chief research fellow of the Poletaev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Contributor(s): Alain de Botton | Is it possible to remain a committed atheist but nevertheless benefit from the wisdom of religion? Marking the publication of his new book Religion for Atheists, Alain de Botton proposes that we look to religions for insights into how we might live in and arrange our societies. Alain de Botton is the author of non-fiction essays on themes ranging from love and travel to architecture and philosophy. His bestselling books include The Architecture of Happiness.

Contributor(s): Dr James McDougall | South Asia, China, Europe, North America, sub-Saharan Africa: most major world regions have histories that can be clearly characterised. The Maghrib, despite being perhaps historically the first region to be provided with a model of historical development (by Ibn Khaldun), remains to a large degree unidentifiable with its own distinctive 'pattern of the past'. This may be changing as scholarship focuses more on global, cross-regional, and interactive histories in which North Africa, as a 'hinge' at the edge of three continents, can easily and productively be placed. But does this approach risk misconstruing North Africa's own particularities? How can regional and global histories together best account for North Africa's place in world history? Dr James McDougall| is Laithwaite Fellow and tutor in modern history at Trinity College. His research interest includes Modern and contemporary Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, African and Islamic history, especially Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco.

Contributor(s): Vítor Gaspar | Vítor Gaspar is Minister of Finance. He was appointed Portuguese Finance Minister in Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's cabinet in June 2011. Mr Gaspar was an adviser to the Bank of Portugal from February 2010, having been from 2007 Director-General at the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (ERI) with the President of the European Commission. Previously he was Director-General for Research at the European Central Bank for six years. Gaspar was awarded a degree in economics by the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) in 1982, and has a doctorate in economics by the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, awarded in 1988.

Contributor(s): David Lammy MP | The riots across England in the summer of 2011 were sparked by events in Tottenham, north London. Tottenham was also the site of the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985. David Lammy, MP for the area, reflects on the causes of these events and what role racial inequality played. David Lammy has been the Labour MP for Tottenham since 2000. Rob Berkeley is Director of the Runnymede Trust.

Contributor(s): Wael Ghonim | In this conversation, Wael Ghonim will discuss his new book Revolution 2.0| providing a unique insider's story from the heart of the Egyptian Spring. He gives unparalleled insight into why the Egyptian people finally rejected 30 years of oppression and found a voice. Wael Ghonim was born in 1980 in Cairo, and lived in Saudi Arabia for most of his childhood until moving back to Egypt at the age of 13. A prominent internet entrepreneur, by his mid-twenties Wael was a key member or founder of three of the Arab world's most popular websites, and in 2008 he was hired by Google as Regional Product Manager for the Middle East and North Africa. A passionate and committed individual, Wael's knowledge of technology and his dedication to the cause of democracy in Egypt came together in 2011 when he set up a Facebook page that facilitated the protests that would lead to the departure of Hosni Mubarak.

Contributor(s): Cullen Murphy | For centuries states have used their power to censor information, to conduct surveillance, to impose belief, to manipulate and to punish. Cullen Murphy's extraordinary, provocative new book which he will talk about in this lecture explores the idea that the Inquisition - the Catholic body that existed in Europe (and beyond) for over 700 years - is not a medieval oddity, but is intrinsically bound up with the creation of the modern world. Travelling from freshly opened Vatican archives to the detention camps of Guantánamo and the filing cabinets of the Third Reich, he traces the Inquisition's legacy to show how, as time went on, its techniques became the standard operating procedure of secular persecution. Murphy explores the role of the Inquisition in a new phase in the battle between the individual private conscience and the forces that try to contain it. This event marks the publication of his new book God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World. Cullen Murphy is Vanity Fair's editor at large and the author of Are We Rome? and The Word According to Eve. He was previously managing editor of The Atlantic Monthly.

Contributor(s): Paul Mason | Our world is changing dramatically. Social upheaval has followed worldwide economic crisis and the gulf between the haves and the have-nots is widening. In 2011, this profound disconnect found expression in events that we were told had been consigned to history: revolt and revolution. In his new book Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere which he will discuss in this lecture Paul Mason sets out to explore the causes and consequences of this current wave of struggle, illuminating the links between the economic and social crisis. He explores and analyses what lies behind the new revolutions – a volatile combination of the near collapse of free-market capitalism, new technologies and changes in popular culture, and a profound shift in our understanding of what freedom means. Looking at how new social media have impacted on how we behave and organize, Mason interviews activists on the ground and the people behind these new forms of collective action, providing an insight into the agile networks of Twitter- and Facebook-savvy young protesters supporting the viral spread ofinternational activism. The economics editor of the BBC's flagship program Newsnight, Paul Mason is also one of the most influential journalists on twitter. He first reported live for the BBC on 9/11, and covered the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 from outside its New York HQ. His television and online reports have tracked the social and economic impact of the global meltdown from the mean streets of Gary, Indiana to the elite salons of Davos.

Contributor(s): Peter Hain MP | During a discussion on his latest book Outside In|, former anti-apartheid leader turned Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain will recall his campaigning days, receiving a letter bomb, being prosecuted in two political trials and his role in negotiating the historic 2007 settlement in Northern Ireland. He was also Britain's first-ever African-born Africa Minister and a passionate advocate and deliverer of devolved government to Wales. Featuring Iraq, Mugabe, Europe, Gibraltar, blood diamonds, working with MI5 and MI6, delivering justice for workers robbed of their pensions and compensation for sick miners, Hain gives a fascinating insight into life near the top of the Blair and Brown governments. Peter Hain is the Labour MP for Neath and Shadow Secretary of State for Wales. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1991 and after Labour's victory in 1997, joined the Blair government. Firstly at the Welsh Office and then as minister for Africa and then Europe Minister. He also served as Leader of the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. As the son of courageous anti-apartheid activists, he spent his childhood in South Africa and then in exile in Britain, where he led the campaign against white-only sports tours.

Contributor(s): Dr Ramachandra Guha | High annual growth rates, a rising middle class, and successes in the software sector have led to much talk of India becoming a superpower. But rather than seek to expand India's influence abroad, the political class and intellectual elite would do well to focus on the fissures within. Ramachandra Guha is Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at LSE IDEAS for 2011-2012.