Speaker(s): Dr Rebecca Elliott, Professor Ian Gough, Dr Rodolfo Leyva | Welcome to LSE IQ, the monthly podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science. This is the podcast where we ask some of the leading social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. For this LSE ...…

Speaker(s): Ray Acheson, Dr Renata Dwan, Rebecca Johnson | Launching the Arts and Humanities Research Council research project, A Feminist International Law of Peace and Security, that asks how a feminist reading of International Law can further disarmament and promote sustainable peace, a panel of leading experts discuss the role of women and ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Valentino Larcinese | Is populism a threat to democracy? And aren’t technocracy and elitism also threats to democracy? Is there a trade-off between the competence and representativeness of politicians? The lecture tries to address these questions of paramount importance for contemporary democratic systems by using the expe ...…

Speaker(s): Arjen Boekhold, Dr Marjolein Busstra, Charlotte Williams | Is eating chocolate linked to child slavery? Watch this entertaining and shocking documentary film about the journalists investigating global chocolate production. To mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, LSE IDEAS, United Nations Cinema and ...…

Speaker(s): Rokhaya Diallo | The idea of womanhood is often embodied by legendary blonde French icons. In 2018 Rokhaya Diallo challenges the stereotypical view of “La Parisienne” by bringing together diverse groups of people in the famous Parisian landscape. She seeks to deconstruct the norm and show that various skin tones and hair textures ar ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Emma Byrne, Dr John Gallagher, Dr Rebecca Roache | Language allows us to communicate. It also allows us to charm, shock, delight, and offend. It is political and we can use it to harm and manipulate. And some words are just not okay in polite company. Should there ever be restraints on what can be said? If so, what kind? In this ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Jason Furman, Professor Sara Hobolt, Yascha Mounk, Professor Andrés Velasco | Across the globe, liberal democracy is under threat from populism. Through Europe, the Americas and Asia demagogic figures of both the left and the right have come to power with simplistic solutions to entrenched policy dilemmas, bringing often a ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Toni Haastrup, Henri Myrttinen, Dr Aisling Swaine, Professor Jacqui True | At the UK launch of the Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security, the authors will take stock of what has and hasn’t been achieved. Toni Haastrup (@ToniHaastrup) is Lecturer in International Security, School of Politics and International Relations, Uni ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Andrew Street | We have little idea about whether hospital treatment makes patients better. In his inaugural lecture Andrew Street explains why this matters and what can be done about it. Andrew Street (@andrewdstreet) is Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Health Policy at LSE. Previously he was at the Univ ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Catherine Barnard, Professor Sara Hobolt, Rain Newton-Smith, Stephen Wall | Our expert panel will reflect on the progress of the Brexit negotiations and their prospects, and the implications for the UK’s future relationship with the EU. Catherine Barnard (@CSBarnard24) is Professor in European Union Law and Employment Law ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Claire Jones, Dr Fiona Kumari Campbell, Dr Hannah Thompson | What is disability and how has it been understood through history and across different cultures? How is disability presented in the arts and in our changing idea of what it means to be human? Is the term ‘disability' useful for the development of disability rights or do ...…

Speaker(s): Professor G. John Ikenberry, Dr Kori Schake, Professor Peter Trubowitz, Dr Leslie Vinjamuri | Two years ago Donald Trump's election shocked the world. At this event, foreign policy experts ask how much the Trump Presidency has changed America's global role. President Trump has challenged America's traditional allies and normal trade ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Jon Danielsson, Dr Eva Micheler, Nikola Tchouparov | This event will address the evolving role of money in society. Money used to be gold and is now fiat. Electronic transactions mean we have all but stopped carrying cash. The three speakers will discuss how new financial technology is set to change how money and payment systems ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Jonathan Haidt | A timely investigation into the new safety culture in universities and the dangers it poses to free speech, mental health, education, and ultimately democracy. This event marks the launch of Jonathan's new book, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generatio ...…

Speaker(s): Nils-Axel Braathen, Ben Groom, Joseph Lowe, Susana Mourato, Tanja Wettingfeld | A number of OECD countries make extensive use of cost benefit analysis (CBA) to help inform environmental policy decisions. This discussion panel will reflect on this use and take stock of recent developments in environmental CBA and the challenges this ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Oriana Bandiera, Dr Himanshu, Peter Lanjouw, Professor Michael Lipton, Professor Lord Stern | The event marks the launch of a book that gives insights into the fundamental question of development economics, How Lives Change. This new book uses a unique data set consisting of seven full (100%) surveys of one Indian village, ...…

Speaker(s): Polly Curtis, Professor Sonia Livingstone, Dr Damian Tambini, | The LSE Truth, Trust and Technology Commission has been working with experts, practitioners and the public to identify structural causes of media misinformation and set out a new framework for strategic policy. This event will launch the Commission's report, at which th ...…

Speaker(s): George Papandreou | George Papandreou will be in conversation with Kevin Featherstone. He will reflect on his expectations before coming to office at the start of the debt crisis and its impact on his government’s programme. George A. Papandreou (@GPapandreou) is a former Prime Minister of Greece, current President of Socialist Inte ...…

Speaker(s): Mike Coupe | With more people working more hours, many are finding themselves increasingly "time-poor". Sainsbury's CEO Mike Coupe argues that there is a need for big business to take an active leadership role on well being issues. Drawing on the Sainsbury's Living Well index he will answer questions put to him by Richard Layard on ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Yana van der Meulen Rodgers | In 2017, three days after entering office, President Donald Trump not only reinstated the Global Gag Rule, he also expanded the order extensively. Trump halted US funding to family planning organisations providing abortion-related activities, but also extended this rule to any foreign nongover ...…

Speaker(s): Farrah Storr | Editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, Farrah Storr, explains how we can harness constraint, failure and obstacles to unlock creative thinking and personal potential, using examples from her own career as a journalist and editor. Farrah Storr (@Farrah_Storr) is the award-winning editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, where she ha ...…

Speaker(s): Kristin Casper, Roberto Eugenio T Cadiz, Dr Luke Harrington, Dr Annalisa Savaresi, Dr Joana Setzer | An expert panel will discuss the links between human rights and climate change, and whether rights-based climate change claims are one future path to spurring climate action. Kristin Casper is Litigation Counsel for Greenpeace's Glob ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Rob Reich | Is philanthropy, by its very nature, a threat to today’s democracy? Though we may laud wealthy individuals who give away their money for society’s benefit, Robert Reich shows how such generosity not only isn’t the unassailable good we think it to be but might also undermine democratic values and set back aspira ...…

Speaker(s): Gideon Rachman, Dr David Smith, Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, Dr Linda Yueh | Join us for an evening of conversation as we discuss the midterm election results and what they mean for Donald Trump’s presidency and the US. Gideon Rachman (@gideonrachman) is Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, Financial Times. David Smith (@dtsmith_sydney) is Se ...…

Speaker(s): Jamie Susskind | Jamie Susskind will discuss the publication of his latest book, Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech. At this event, Jamie will discuss how digital technology, from AI to virtual reality, will transform politics and society. He will mention how digital technology will be used to exert cont ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Jens Beckert, Richard Bronk, Dr Waltraud Schelkle, Dr Ekaterina Svetlova, Lord Turner | Our panel discusses the new book Uncertain Futures, exploring how economic actors visualise the future and decide how to act in conditions of radical uncertainty. Jens Beckert is Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies ...…

Speaker(s): Neel Mukherjee, Dr Alpa Shah | In her latest book, Nightmarch, which she will talk about at this event, Alpa Shah offers a profound understanding of why some of India’s poor have shunned the world’s largest democracy and taken up arms to fight for a fairer society in one of the most intractable and under-reported rebellions. Nightma ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Lilie Chouliaraki, Professor Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Professor Barbie Zelizer | What do #MeToo, refugee selfies and oil paintings have in common? They are all part of a mixed and changing culture of witnessing. This interdisciplinary panel explores the different media platforms and practices of spectatorship that today enab ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Chris Rapley | This visually engaging presentation by Chris Rapley will present the limitations of evidence in informing and motivating action on climate change. Before joining University College London as Professor of Climate Science in the Department of Earth Sciences, Chris Rapley (@ChrisRapley3131) was the Director of ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Matthew Festenstein, Clara Fischer, Dr Paniel Reyes Cardenas | What if instead of worrying about truth as a fundamental, objective notion, we just focused on what works? What if we just believed in what is practical or beneficial to us to believe? Pragmatism is the great American contribution to philosophy, and it has seri ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Michèle Lamont | This lecture will diagnose the challenges of neoliberal American society: the pitfalls of the American dream across classes, hardened group boundaries, and the need to invent new narratives of hope. Michèle Lamont (@mlamont6) is Professor of Sociology and of African and African American Studies, Harvard Un ...…

Speaker(s): Ellen Barry, Khalid Janahi, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Professor Lord Stern, Professor Andres Velasco | Global challenges discussions around the Hard Truths exhibition (democracy, disinformation, migration, drug trafficking, climate change, global extremism). What global leadership and governance reforms are needed? Ellen Barry (@EllenBar ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Sumantra Bose | This lecture marks the publication of Sumantra Bose's new book, Secular States, Religious Politics: India, Turkey, and the Future of Secularism. Sumantra Bose is Professor of International and Comparative Politics at LSE. Chandran Kukathas is Chair in Political Theory and Head of LSE Department of Governmen ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Matthew Goodwin | Matthew Goodwin will present his new guide to one of the most urgent political phenomena of our time: the rise of national populism. Matthew J Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) is Professor of Politics, University of Kent and Senior Visiting Fellow, Chatham House. Francisco Panizza is Professor in Latin American and C ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Chris Minns | Migration has always been part of the human experience. But can the study of past population movements help us to understand present-day markets and societies? This lecture draws on a range of historical evidence to explore the possibilities. Chris Minns (@Chris__Minns) is Professor of Economic History at LSE ...…

Speaker(s): Professor John Worrall | Statements can be significant despite being “statements of the bleedin’ obvious”. The philosopher David Hume’s remark that ‘The rational man adjusts his beliefs to the evidence’ falls exactly into this category. It is surely “bleedin’ obvious” that our views (and hence our policies) ought to be based on evid ...…

Speaker(s): Alan Cowell, Professor Richard Evans, Bianca Jagger, Andres Velasco | Authoritarian leaders are taking control in more and more countries. What can we learn from the Venezuelan experience? After a long career as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times based in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, Alan Cowell (@cowellcnd) becam ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Charles Bean, Lord O’Donnell, Professor Catherine Schenk, Minouche Shafik | This event explores the causes of the 2008 global financial crash and the responses of the major advanced economies, which drew on the lessons of the 1930s. A decade on from the crisis, the global financial system has yet to return to ‘normal’, wit ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Tomila Lankina | Three decades after the collapse of communism in Europe, a number of post-communist states experienced democratic back-sliding or embraced authoritarianism. In her inaugural lecture, Tomila Lankina discusses how her research into the durability of social structure of pre-communist Russia— elements of which ...…

Speaker(s): Beatrice Fihn | Are we closer than ever to ending the nuclear weapon threat? In this tumultuous moment, Beatrice Fihn sets out plenty of reasons to hope. Beatrice Fihn (@BeaFihn) is Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. Robin Archer is Director of the Ralph Miliband ...…

Speaker(s): Professor David Graeber | The proliferation of useless forms of employment in the professional-managerial sector has placed enormous pressure on the caring professions, leading to a major social conflagration. David Graeber (@davidgraeber) is Professor of Anthropology at the LSE and author of Bullshit Jobs: a Theory. Deborah James i ...…

Speaker(s): Baroness Ashton, Razia Iqbal, Alissa Johannsen Rubin, Tim Phillips, Mark Muller | This event will look at peace-making in the 21st century and the lessons learnt from attempts to stabilise Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. It will map out the new conflict environment and the rise of non-state actors and proxy forces through a prism of Sy ...…

Speaker(s): Marina Benjamin, Professor Russell Foster, Professor Simon Morgan Wortham | Philosophers have diligently examined consciousness, but what do they have to say about our nightly loss of consciousness? In an age of mindfulness, is there something to be said for sleepfulness too? And for those of us still rubbing our eyes at 4am, what i ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Sir Paul Collier | Following the publication of his latest book, The Future of Capitalism, Paul Collier will discuss this book and his wider work. Paul Collier is Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony’s College. From 1998–2003 he took a five-ye ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Susan Halford | It is now well-established that digital devices, techniques and new forms of data are deeply implicated in the re-working of social life, and this has only just begun. At the same time, these devices, techniques and data are shaping what we know about social life, fuelling stark questions about the value of ...…

Speaker(s): Vassilios Skouris | Based on his experience as Judge in the Court of the European Union, Vassilios Skouris will explore the differences between how judgements are made in the common law and civil law legal systems. The common law legal system allows judges to give personal opinion on a case. Alternatively, in civil law legal systems ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Steffen Hertog, Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Azadeh Moaveni, Professor Peter Neumann | Exploring new data showing why someone joins ISIS. A discussion of the sources of extremism and how to make societies more resilient. Steffen Hertog is Associate Professor in Comparative Politics, LSE. His book about Saudi state-building, Princes, Bro ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Dominic Lieven, Professor Janet Hartley, Professor Alexander Semyonov | This event launches the Paulsen Programme at LSE International History Department, which has been set up to allow historians in Russia to realise their full potential in their research and to enable them to make a powerful impact within the worldwide c ...…

Speaker(s): Baroness Corston | The overwhelming majority of women in our prisons are serving very short sentences for non-violent offences frequently associated with mental ill health, abuse, addiction and poverty. Every year, about 17,000 children are affected by their mothers’ imprisonment, and, far too often, the family link is broken foreve ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Quinetta Roberson | Scholars and practitioners have highlighted how diversity of identities, cultures and experiences within workforces can be of benefit to organisations. Yet, the meaning and design of inclusive organisations remains elusory. Drawing upon her research and experiences working with organisations, Quinetta R ...…