Spring 2016 | Public lectures and events | Video

Contributor(s): Professor Craig Calhoun | The world is given its contours, reality and limits partly by how it is imagined. Creativity, unrealistically ‘utopian’ thought and even the celebration of illusory ‘golden ages’ perform important roles alongside critical analysis of material conditions and practical possibilities. Art, religion, and social movements each play a vital part, though the power of imagination – and failures of imagination - extends even more widely. This lecture is given ahead of this year's LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival, which will be taking place from Monday 22 - Saturday 27 February 2016 with the theme "Utopias". Craig Calhoun (@craigjcalhoun) is Director and President of LSE. He is a world-renowned social scientist whose work connects sociology to culture, communication, politics, philosophy and economics. He took up his post as LSE Director on 1 September 2012, having left the United States where he was University Professor at New York University and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge and President of the Social Science Research Council. Emran Mian (@emranmian) is the Director of the Social Market Foundation, and author of Send In The Idiots and The Banker’s Daughter.

Contributor(s): Professor Justin Champion, Dr John Guy, Kwasi Kwarteng, Gisela Stuart | Is politics about building a better world, or simply the art of the possible? Ahead of this year's LSE Literary Festival which marks the anniversary of Thomas More's Utopia, in a special debate for BBC Radio 3’s flagship programme Free Thinking (@BBCFreeThinking), politicians and historians debate the balance between idealism and realism in politics, international relations and political history. Justin Champion is Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London and President of the Historical Association. He works on political thought of the early modern period, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between politics and religion in the period between the Reformation and the Enlightenment. He is a regular broadcaster on the BBC and elsewhere. John Guy is Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge. He has written extensively about the politics of the Tudor Court, including several books on Sir Thomas More and his political career. He is a regular broadcaster on the BBC and elsewhere. Kwasi Kwarteng has been Conservative MP for Spelthorne since 2010. He has served on the Transport Select Committee, and is currently a member of the Work & Pensions Select Committee. He is an historian whose books include Ghosts of Empire: Britain’s Legacies in the Modern World, and Thatcher’s Trial: Six Months That Defined A Leader. Gisela Stuart (@GiselaStuart) has been Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston since 1997. She has served on the Social Security Select Committee, in the Government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, and as a UK Parliamentary Representative at the European Convention, a body established to draw up a constitution for the European Union. Gisela is the current editor of The House, Parliament’s in-house magazine. Anne McElvoy (@annemcelvoy) is Senior Editor at The Economist, a presenter of BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking and BBC Radio 4 Moral Maze, and a London Evening Standard columnist.

Contributor(s): John McDonnell | John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP) has been the MP for Hayes and Harlington since 1997 and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer since September 2015. He was born in Liverpool and stood as a candidate for Leader of the Labour party against Gordon Brown in 2007 and again in 2010. In 1981, he was elected to the Greater London Council as a member for Hayes and Harlington. He became the Chair of Finance, responsible for the GLC’s budget, and was Ken Livingstone's deputy leader until 1985. From 1985-87, he was Head of the Policy Unit at Camden Borough Council, then Chief Executive of the Association of London Authorities from 1987 to 1995 and the Association of London Government from 1995-97. Tony Travers is Director of LSE London, a research centre at the London School of Economics. British Government @ LSE (@lsegovernment) is an initiative currently based in the Government Department to promote and develop research on British Government being conducted at the LSE. So far world class speakers have attended our events, talking on a range of topics.

Contributor(s): Mark Lawson, Jonathan Moore | As part of this year’s LSE Literary Festival Fringe, Mark Lawson will be interviewing Jonathan Moore about his much admired play INIGO, which vividly brings Ignatius of Loyola and the founding Jesuits of the sixteenth century to life for a contemporary audience. Moore’s bold depiction of Loyola as a counter cultural radical explores timely questions about the role of art and faith, the world of the imagination and creativity, in the fight for change. Mark Lawson is a journalist, broadcaster and author. He is a Guardian columnist and feature writer and theatre critic for the Tablet. He has presented Mark Lawson Talks To... on BBC Four since 2005. He presented BBC2's weekly arts round up from 1993 to 2005. His novels include Idlewild, Going Out Live and Enough is Enough. He was voted Cultural Commentator of the Year in 2010. Jonathan Moore is an award winning actor, writer and director. A published playwright and librettist, his work has been performed at leading theatres including Donmar, Royal Exchange, Gate, BBC TV, radio and internationally. His latest play INIGO, about Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits, had a successful off West End run and transferred to the Main House of the Pleasance and has recently been published. He is due to direct a large scale site specific immersive project for Ludovico Einaudi in Italy and a new opera project with Stewart Copeland.

Contributor(s): Dr John Collins, Dr Joanne Csete, Catalina Pérez Correa González, Javier Segredo | As the UN meets to form the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in 2016 many member states are examining how to roll back the war on drugs and institute new policies. The LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy will provide a new framework for global drug control efforts, grounded in public health, sustainable development and human rights. John Collins is Executive Director of the International Drug Policy Project (IDPP). Joanne Csete is an Adjunct Professor of Public Health at Columbia University. Catalina Pérez Correa González (@cataperezcorrea) is Professor and Researcher in Legal Studies Division at CIDE (Mexico). Javier Segredo is the Regional Democratic Governance and Citizen Security Advisor at the UN Development Programme. Professor Danny Quah (@DannyQuah) is Director of the Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre. LSE IDEAS (@LSEIDEAS) is a foreign policy think-tank within LSE's Institute for Global Affairs.

Contributor(s): Enrico Letta | The referendum on the place of the UK within the EU is a unique opportunity to take stock of what isn't functioning in Europe, and to seek out a different track. It is not only in the UK that public opinion is turning towards euro-scepticism, as even in the most European of countries disarray and disappointment are rising. The reasons for this are diverse and run deep, but they must not be ignored, and this is why a discussion dedicated to the "big picture" must be preferred to a technical debate about details. A win-win solution would certainly be that of a "2-circle" Europe. Enrico Letta (@EnricoLetta) is the Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po in Paris. He was the Prime Minister of Italy from April 2013 to February 2014. Before he served as Minister for EU Affairs (1998-1999), as Minister for Industry, Commerce and Crafts (January-April 2000, during the second D’Alema Government), as Minister for Industry, Commerce and Crafts and Foreign Trade (2000-2001, during the second Amato Government) and as Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister of the centre-left government led by Romano Prodi from 2006 to 2008. Chris Alden is Professor of International Relations at LSE. The International Relations Department (@LSEIRDept) at LSE is now in its 88th year, making it one of the oldest as well as largest in the world.

Contributor(s): Baroness Amos | Our world continues to be challenged by conflict and consequent flows of people across the world. How can and should we respond? Valerie Amos (@ValerieAmos) joined as Director of SOAS, University of London in 2015. From 2010, Valerie served as Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the UN. She served in a number of roles in the public sector including in local government and as Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission. Valerie was an adviser to the Mandela Government on leadership and change management issues and was appointed a Labour Life Peer in 1997. She went on to become the first black woman to sit in the British cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development. Valerie became Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council in October 2003 and served as UK High Commissioner to Australia before joining the UN. Professor Craig Calhoun (@craigjcalhoun) is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. The Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) (@LSEIGA) creates a dedicated space for research, policy engagement and teaching across multiple disciplines to pioneer locally-rooted responses to global challenges.

Contributor(s): Professor David Runciman | Conspiracy theories go hand in hand with political mistrust. Are they symptom or cause of current levels of mistrust in democracy and what can be done about it? David Runciman is Professor in Political Thought, University of Cambridge. 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): Professor Christine Delphy, Professor Sylvie Tissot | On a rare visit to London, Professor Christine Delphy, one of the world's most influential feminist thinkers, joins us to discuss her last book, Separate and Dominate, focusing on her views on the contemporary challenges of feminism vis a vis the emergence of new racisms. Delphy will be in conversation with Sylvie Tissot, an academic and film-maker who has explore Delphy’s life and work in the world acclaimed film about Delphy’s life, ‘Je ne suis pas féministe mais...’. This event is partnered with a screening of ‘Je ne suis pas féministe mais...’ on 8 February. Christine Delphy is a French sociologist, feminist, writer and theorist, and co-founder of Nouvelles questions féministes with Simone de Beauvoir. Sylvie Tissot is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Paris-8. LSE’s Gender Institute (@LSEGenderTweet) is the largest gender studies centre in Europe. With a global perspective, the Gender Institute’s research and teaching intersects with other categories of analysis such as race, ethnicity, class and sexuality; because gender relations work in all spheres of life, interdisciplinarity is key to our approach.

Contributor(s): Professor Tim Besley | Professor Besley gives his inaugural lecture as Sir William Arthur Lewis Chair in Development Economics. A major change in mainstream thinking in economics over the past 25 years has been towards improving our understanding of how the policy process (political and bureaucrat) affects policy outcomes. Such changes in economic thinking are partly in response to the need to have a persuasive account of the diverse historical development experiences of various countries and regions. One key debate following this research has been about whether a particular configuration of institutions is needed to promote inclusive economic development. This lecture will take stock of what has been learned and critically appraise the state of knowledge, drawing some implications for how international financial institutions and aid practitioners approach their business. Tim Besley is Deputy Head for Research of the Department of Economics and an associate member of CEP, IGC and STICERD at LSE. Oriana Bandiera is Professor of Economics and Director of STICERD at LSE. The Department of Economics at LSE (@LSEEcon) is one of the largest economics departments in the world. Its size ensures that all areas of economics are strongly represented in both research and teaching.