Spring 2016 | Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Javier Marías | Distinguished Spanish novelist Javier Marías discusses his latest work with the historian Paul Preston. Javier Marías is the author of sixteen works in Spanish, which have been translated into forty-two languages. His latest novel, Thus Bad Begins, explores the cruel, tender punishments we exact on those we love. Paul Preston is Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies and Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre at LSE. He is author of The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain. The Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies is part of the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science and is the focus of a flourishing interest in contemporary Spain in Britain.

Contributor(s): Professor José van Dijck, Professor Sonia Livingstone | Online platforms are penetrating the organisation of societies, disrupting private and public sectors. What is their impact on the governance of public life and social order? José van Dijck is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam and President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Sonia Livingstone (@Livingstone_S) is Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. Andrew Murray (@AndrewDMurray) is Professor of Law with particular reference to New Media and Technology Law at 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. The Department of Media and Communications (@MediaLSE) undertakes outstanding and innovative research and provides excellent research-based graduate programmes for the study of media and communications. The Department was established in 2003 and in 2014 our research was ranked number 1 in the most recent UK research evaluation, with 91% of research outputs ranked world-leading or internationally excellent.

Contributor(s): Caroline Lucas | Caroline Lucas will explore the role of the EU as a force for progress; the likely impact of the EU referendum campaign and what green progress means in the EU context. Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) is MP for Brighton Pavilion and former Leader of the Green Party. Robin Archer is Director of the Ralph Miliband Programme at LSE. 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.

Contributor(s): Dr Wolfgang Schäuble | Wolfgang Schäuble is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has served as Germany’s Federal Minister of Finance in the second and third Merkel cabinets since 2009. Involved at the centre of the crisis management efforts to save the euro, the Wall Street Journal called Schäuble “Germany’s second most powerful person after Chancellor Merkel”. Between 1998 to 2000 he was CDU party chairman, and served again as Federal Minister of the Interior in the first Merkel cabinet from 2005 to 2009. Kevin Featherstone is Head of the European Institute, Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Director of the Hellenic Observatory at LSE. This event is part of the LSESU German Society’s (@SuSocGerman) Annual German Symposium which takes place from 29 February to 4 March. Details about all of the events which make up this year’s Symposium can be found at German Symposium 2016. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is celebrating its Twenty Fifth Anniversary in 2016. It 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.

Contributor(s): Professor Jonathan Fisher, Dr Eva Micheler, Professor Niamh Moloney, Dr Joseph Spooner | The law plays a crucial part in the creation, proliferation, and distribution of wealth. Through private law institutions such as contract and property, but also through the criminal law (consider the numerous offences pertaining to wealth, such theft, fraud, money laundering) the law creates and regulates the categories making possible the exclusive relations between us and the world. In doing so the law also, at least indirectly, shapes social relations. Questions of wealth creation and distribution have become particularly urgent since the beginning of the ongoing financial crisis. This also puts to the question the way in which law regulates wealth. Are corporations and financial markets sufficiently regulated? Is it even possible to regulate them by law? What protection does the law offer to the worse-off and especially those who financially depend on creditors? What role can the criminal law play in hindering aggressive corporate conduct especially in conditions of globalisation? LSE Law academics conduct cutting edge research on such questions. At this event, four of our experts will share and discuss their work with the audience and offer answers to such pressing questions and offer their insights as to how the law can be employed fairly and effectively to regulate wealth. Jonathan Fisher (@JFisherQC) is a Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE. Eva Micheler is Associate Professor in Law at LSE. Niamh Moloney is Professor of Law at LSE. Joseph Spooner (@jtspooner) is Assistant Professor of Insolvency Law at LSE. Emmanuel Melissaris (@EMelissaris) is Associate Professor of Law at 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.

Contributor(s): Kate Andrews, Steve Erlanger, Gideon Rachman, Stephanie Rickard, Peter Trubowitz | On the 1st of March millions of American voters in 12 states will go to the polls in the 2016 US presidential election's 'Super Tuesday’ primary. The race so far has been unlike any in recent memory with the rise of outsider candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties which has led to the most open-ended election in decades. Super Tuesday will make the direction of the race much clearer on both sides, paving the way for the party conventions in the early summer. Join us for a lively evening of discussion and debate with six experts on US politics. Kate Andrews (@KateAndrs) is News Editor at the Institute for Economic Affairs. Kate was former Head of Communications and a Research Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute. Kate has previously worked for the Institute of Economic Affairs, Townhall.com, the Open Currency Standard think tank and on Mitt Romney’s and Linda McMahon’s campaigns. Steve Erlanger (@StevenErlanger) is London bureau chief for the New York Times, having moved here in August 2013 after more than five years as the paper's bureau chief in Paris. Erlanger joined the NYT in September 1987. Gideon Rachman (@gideonrachman) became chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times in July 2006. He joined the FT after a 15-year career at The Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington and Bangkok. He also edited The Economist’s business and Asia sections. His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalisation. Stephanie J. Rickard (@SJRickard) is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics in the Department of Government. She earned her PhD at the University of California, San Diego and her BA at the University of Rochester. Her research examines the effects of political institutions on economic policies. Peter Trubowitz (@ptrubowitz) is Professor of International Relations and Director of the US Centre at LSE. His most recent book is Politics and Strategy: Partisan Ambition and American Statecraft (Princeton University Press). Michael Cox is Director of LSE Ideas and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at LSE. The United States Centre at LSE (@LSE_US) is a hub for global expertise, analysis and commentary on America. Its mission is to promote policy-relevant and internationally-oriented scholarship to meet the growing demand for fresh analysis and critical debate on the United States.

Contributor(s): Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado | Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, Vice-President and Foreign Minister of Panama, will discuss her nation’s role as a geo-strategic gateway in the Americas. Her talk will focus primarily on Panama’s transformation into a world-class services economy, and the new responsibilities derived from this evolution as the country asserts its place in tackling international corruption and financial criminality, mitigating the effects of climate change, and channelling foreign aid and humanitarian assistance. Panama's Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado (@IsabelStMalo), has over 20 years of experience in consulting, development and implementation of public policies in Latin America. Following her election as Vice-President and her appointment as foreign minister, she became the first woman to hold both positions in the history of her country. She was the Alternate Ambassador from Panama to the United Nations in New York for 15 years and worked with the United Nations Development Program, as Country Manager for Panama. Alvaro Mendez is the co-founder of the LSE Global South Unit. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the LSE; Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Regent’s University London; Research Associate, University of Bristol; and a former editor of Millennium-Journal of International Studies at the LSE. The Global South Unit (@LSE_Globalsouth) is a research and teaching initiative based in the International Relations Department of the LSE. It is a decentralised ideas hub aimed at investigating the changing role of the South in shaping the global order. The event is organised in co-operation with the LSE Students' Union Latin American Student Society (@latamlse).

Contributor(s): Professor Leif Wenar | Natural resources empower the world's most coercive men. Autocrats like Putin and the Saudis spend oil money on weapons and repression. ISIS and Congo's militias spend resource money on atrocities and ammunition. For decades resource-fueled authoritarians and extremists have forced endless crises on the West - and the ultimate source of their resource money is us, paying at the petrol station and the mall. In this lecture, Leif Wenar will talk about his new book, Blood Oil, which goes behind the headlines in search of the hidden global rule that puts shoppers into business with the men of blood - and discovers an ancient law that once licensed the slave trade, apartheid and genocide. The abolition of this rule marked some of humanity's greatest triumphs - yet the rule zombies on in today's multi-trillion dollar resource trade, enriching tyrants, warlords and terrorists worldwide. By our own deepest principles, over half of the world's traded oil is stolen. Blood Oil shows how the West can lead a peaceful global revolution by finally ending its dependence on authoritarian oil, conflict minerals and other stolen resources. Upgrading world trade will make us more secure at home, more trusted abroad, and better able to solve urgent problems like climate change. Blood Oil shows how citizens, consumers and leaders can act today to avert tomorrow's crises - and to create a more united human future. Leif Wenar (@LeifWenar) is Chair of Philosophy and Law at King's College London. He has been a Visiting Professor at Princeton and Stanford and a Fellow of the Carnegie Council Program in Justice and the World Economy. Margot Salomon is an Associate Professor in the Law Department and the Centre for the Study of Human Rights where she directs the multidisciplinary Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy (Lab). The Centre for the Study of Human Rights at LSE (@LSEHumanRights) is a trans-disciplinary centre of excellence for international academic research, teaching and critical scholarship on human rights.

Contributor(s): Professor Tim Lewens, Dr Alex Mesoudi, Professor Christina Toren | A growing number of researchers are applying Darwinian ideas to explain aspects of human society, but this work has long been controversial. Is a Darwinian theory of culture possible? If so, what should such a theory look like? In what ways should it differ from a theory of biological evolution? Does the “meme” concept have any value? How should we think about cultural inheritance, if not in terms of memes? In this interdisciplinary discussion, philosopher Tim Lewens, social anthropologist Christina Toren and cultural evolution theorist Alex Mesoudi debate these and other questions concerning Darwinism and the social sciences. Tim Lewens is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. Alex Mesoudi (@amesoudi) is Associate Professor in Cultural Evolution at the University of Exeter. Christina Toren is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of St. Andrews. Andrew Buskell (@AndrewBuskell) is a Fellow in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE. 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.

Contributor(s): Ned Beauman, Dr Kate Devlin, Professor Nicholas Humphrey | While social psychologists and cognitive scientists affirm that minds do not exist separated from biological and social systems, our human utopias have always dreamt of a disembodied, free-floating consciousness. William Gibson invented cyberspace in 1984 and blew our minds away in Neuromancer: for the young rustlers, digitally enhanced cowboys ‘jacked into a custom cyberspace desk that projected disembodied consciousness into the consensual hallucination that was the matrix…the elite stance involved a certain relaxed contempt for the flesh. The body was meat.” Falling into the prison of flesh was the Fall and disembodying cognition the picture of our human future. From Neuromancer to The Peripheral, Gibson tells the story of multiple interfaces between bodies-machines-environments-consciousness. Can consciousness exist independently of our human social selves? Will machines ever possess it? Does consciousness require a material base of any kind at all? Could it genuinely fly free of physical matter? Ned Beauman's debut novel, Boxer, Beetle, won the Writers' Guild Award for Best Fiction Book and the Goldberg Prize for Outstanding Debut Fiction. Kate Devlin (@drkatedevlin) is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London. Nicholas Humphrey is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at LSE, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at New College of the Humanities and Senior Member, Darwin College, Cambridge. Sandra Jovchelovitch is a Professor in the Department of Social Psychology at LSE. The Department of Social Psychology (@PsychologyLSE) is a leading international centre dedicated to consolidating and expanding the contribution of social psychology to the understanding and knowledge of key social, economic, political and cultural issues. NERRI (Neuro-Enhancement: Responsible Research and Innovation) (@NERRI_eu) is a three-year project supported by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme which aims to contribute to the introduction of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in neuro-enhancement (NE) in the European Area and to shape a normative framework underpinning the governance of neuro-enhancement technologies.