UCL Political Science Events

Alastair Campbell came to UCL for a special opening event of the UCL Department of Political Science's Policy & Practice seminar series for 2023-24, so discuss how young people should get involved with politics and help to save democracy.

Prof Alan Renwick's inaugural lecture. What are the problems with democracy in the UK and are there any solutions that would work in practice?

Inaugural lecture for Sir Peter Riddell, Honorary Professor in Political Science and member of the Constitution Unit. Is there middle ground in the culture war over ministerial standards?

Prof Christian Schuster's Inaugural Lecture.

Good governance is essential, but governance reforms in the global south often fail. This lecture asks why. One increasingly popular view is that the strategy adopted by international development organisations – which focuses on advancing ‘global best practice’ laws – is fundamentally flawed and that solutions need to be home-grown. This lecture challenges that perspective.

In this panel discussion, we examine current decision-making on the U.S. Supreme Court, how it has affected policymaking dynamics in the U.S. and what the policy consequences of similar decisions may be in the future.

A common, though simplistic, narrative of China's involvement in Africa is one of Chinese dominance and debt trap diplomacy. However, as with most political, economic, and social phenomena, China's involvement in Africa is much more nuanced.

What are the unique challenges that LGBTIQ+ migrants and asylum seekers face, in their home countries, in the course of migration, and in receiving countries? Listen to our panel discussion to find out.

Can the international economic and legal system survive today’s fractured geopolitics? Find out during our panel discussion on "Global Discord," a new book by Harvard research fellow and former central banker Paul Tucker.

In recent years, speech inciting hatred, peddling dissemination, and encouraging self-harm has proliferated on social-media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, prompting calls for regulation to force platforms to tackle these challenges more aggressively. One of the most ambitious proposals is the UK’s own Online Safety Bill, which looks likely to be passed (in some form) by the current government and will grant Ofcom substantial new powers over social media. Yet the Bill is highly controversial, prompting concerns over censorship of legitimate speech. What will this regulatory regime look like in practice? Will it effectively prevent harm? And is there merit to the concern that it will undermine free speech? To confront these issues and more, we are joined by leading experts and practitioners from academia, civil society, and Ofcom itself.

In his inaugural lecture, the Director of the UCL Policy Lab, Marc Stears will argue that the UK can overcome its current crises, but only if it democratises its politics and radically opens up its core institutions to people of all backgrounds. He will set out why this matters, what obstacles it will face and also explain the role that initiatives like the UCL Policy Lab can play in the process.