Speaker(s): Paul Tucker | Central bankers pull the levers of our economic well-being. In this lecture Paul Tucker explains how to ensure agents of the administrative state remain stewards of the common good. Central bankers have emerged from the financial crisis as the third great pillar of unelected power alongside the judiciary and the milita ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Maxim Bolt | This lecture will reflect on an apparently dated concept: structure. Spanning institutions of state and market, it will focus on formality as a kind of structuring, and a lens for understanding the production of difference. This event is the annual Malinowski Memorial Lecture. Maxim Bolt is Reader in Anthropology and ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Olmo Silva, Amy Finch | Olmo Silva will discuss the conceptual framework and empirical evidence underpinning the idea that autonomy and choice can lead to improvements in education standards in England. Recent reforms in many countries around the world have injected ‘private sector’ elements in the provision of public educ ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s new book, Fighting Corruption Is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines, draws on her years as Nigeria’s Finance Minister to provide practical lessons on the difficult, sometimes-dangerous, always-necessary work of fighting graft and corruption. Determined to root out the fraudulent ...…

Speaker(s): Lawrence Wright | Come learn about the most controversial state in America and what it tells us about Donald Trump and the future of the US. This event marks the publications of Lawrence's new book, God Save Texas: A Journey into the Future of America. Lawrence Wright (@lawrence_wright) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, screenwrit ...…

Speaker(s): Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez | President Juan Carlos Varela R. (@JC_Varela) studied primary and secondary in Javier College, under the direction of the Company of Jesus Order. He graduated as an Industrial Engineer from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), in the United States. He was elected Vice President of the Rep ...…

Speaker(s): Nomi Prins | In her new book, which she will talk about at this event, former Wall Street insider Nomi Prins shows how the 2007–2008 financial crisis turbo-boosted the influence of central bankers and triggered a massive shift in the world order. Central banks and international institutions like the IMF have overstepped their tradit ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Julia Black, Professor Simon Deakin, Sean Ennis | Theresa May’s claim that free market capitalism constitutes “the greatest agent of collective human progress ever created” raises a complex question: can markets pursue social values? Julia Black is Pro Director for Research and Professor in the Department of Law, LSE. Simo ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Elizabeth Anderson, Omar Khan | Women and minority groups are significantly under-represented in politics and various other walks of life. 'Affirmative action' is one response in tackling this enduring issue. But what is it? Who is it for? And why does it generate so much controversy? We discuss these questions and explore ...…

Speaker(s): Rachel Holmes | On the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, Rachel Holmes remembers and reflects on the roles of revolutionary thinking and militancy in winning votes for women. The complacency of hindsight leads many in modern Britain to believe universal suffrage and votes for women to have been obvious and inevitabl ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Pedro Sanchez | The leader of the opposition in Spain, Pedro Sánchez, will analyse the political, social and economic factors that have led to the growth of populism and secessionism in Catalonia and will propose possible solutions to the current political blockade in Spain. Dr Pedro Sanchez (@sanchezcastejon) is currently Secret ...…

Speaker(s): Dr. Dambisa Moyo | In Dr. Dambisa Moyo's new book, Edge of Chaos, which she will talk about at this event, she offers a radical menu of ten ways to improve democracy: making it better able to address the range of headwinds that the global economy faces (including technology and the prospects of a jobless underclass, demographic shif ...…

Speaker(s): James Ball, Professor Charlie Beckett, Sophie Gaston | The LSE Truth, Trust and Technology Commission is working with experts, practitioners and the public to identify structural causes of media misinformation and set out a new framework for strategic policy. The four themes it is looking at are: journalism credibility, platform res ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Simon Glendinning, Professor Elspeth Guild, Dr Natascha Zaun | What does a map tell us about Europe? What does it leave out? Prominent scholars in law, philosophy and political science reflect on how the age of cross-border flows from within and without Europe pose questions of how to map Europe and its peoples with renewe ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Nic Cheeseman, Dr Brian Klaas | In this talk, Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas show how to rig an election - with the hopes that the lesson will help save democracy. The greatest political paradox of our time is this: there are more elections than ever before but the world is becoming less democratic. Elections are often the ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Jessica Chiba, John Crace, Tim Crouch | For Victor Hugo, ‘all forms of the multiple reality, actions and ideas, man and humanity’ can be found in Shakespeare. Perhaps this is the reason why, over 400 years after his death, we continue to study, perform, and re-read his plays in search of truths about ourselves and the world. Shou ...…

Speaker(s): Tony Barber, Professor Catherine De Vries, Professor Simon Hix | The European Union is facing turbulent times. It is plagued by deep divisions over the future of European integration. This panel brings together experts who will discuss how Brexit and the rise of Euroscepticism on the continent may shape the contours of the European ...…

Speaker(s): Sir Danny Alexander, Robert Bartlett, Tamsyn Barton, Kwasi Kwarteng | This panel discussion will explore whether the UK should establish a new bank to support infrastructure investment. Danny Alexander (@dannyalexander) is Vice President at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Robert Bartlett is Head of Infrastructure at ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Fawaz Gerges | Fawaz Gerges tells us how the clash between pan-Arab nationalism and pan-Islamism has shaped the history of the region from the 1920s to the present. Fawaz Gerges (@FawazGerges) is Professor of International Relations at LSE and author of Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Mid ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Christine Bell, Dr Aisling Swaine | ‘Conflict-related violence against women’ is often understood to mean sexual violence, specifically rape used as a weapon of war. But this is only one part of a broad continuum of gender violence which must be understood and addressed within and across conflict settings. In her new book, ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Mariana Mazzucato | In her new book, The Value of Everything, which she will discuss in this lecture, Mariana Mazzucato, argues that if we are to reform capitalism, we urgently need to rethink where wealth comes from. Which activities are creating it, which are extracting it, and which are destroying it? Answers to these q ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Tony Bennett, Professor Angela McRobbie, Dr Clive James Nwonka, Professor Beverley Skeggs | This event will consider the prospects for contemporary thinking within the cultural studies tradition to engage with current inequalities. Mindful of the historical importance of this tradition, dating back to the 1960s and includi ...…

Speaker(s): Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Ola Rosling | When asked simple questions about global trends – why the world's population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty – we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess journalists, No ...…

Speaker(s): Chris Hughes, Professor Natalie Fenton, Kam Sandhu | Co-founder of Facebook Chris Hughes makes the case that one-percenters like him should pay their fortune forward in a radically simple way: a guaranteed income for working people Chris Hughes (@chrishughes) is co-founder of the Economic Security Project and co-founder of Facebook. ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Linda Yueh | Linda Yueh will discuss her new book that helps us to think about the biggest economic challenges of our time by drawing on the ideas of the great economists whose thinking has already changed the world Linda Yueh (@lindayueh) is a Fellow in Economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, Adjunct Professor of Economi ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Toby Dodge, Dr Rachel Ibreck, Rim Turkmani, Lyse Doucet | This event will launch LSE’s new Conflict Research Programme funded by the UK’s Department for International Development. The CRP aims to understand why contemporary violence is so difficult to end and to analyse the underlying political economy of violence with a v ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Aeron Davis, Polly Toynbee, Joe EarlePolly ToynbeeJoe Earle | Join Aeron Davis, Polly Toynbee, Joe Earle and Bev Skeggs for a discussion on Britain’s dysfunctional leadership. Aeron Davis will cast the evening off by arguing that the Brexit vote and 2017 election result are more than temporary setbacks for the Establishmen ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet | Arabs and Persians have historically been placed in a binary and oppositional relationship. This bifurcated past has influenced the contemporary politics and historiography of the region, with far-reaching consequences for the stability and economic viability of different Middle Eastern communities ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Joseph Slaughter | Modern Euro-American law operates by fashioning legal persons as creatures endowed with rights and responsibilities. This figurative process of personification is a means of emancipation. Indeed, the fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution laid the legal groundwork not only for recognition of the full leg ...…

Speaker(s): Lord Sainsbury | David Sainsbury will be talking about his lifetime of philanthropy. Lord Sainsbury is founder of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. He donated £200 million of Sainsbury’s shares to the Foundation’s assets. Stephan Chambers is Marshall Institute Director. The Marshall Institute (@LSEMarshall) aims to increase the impa ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Catherine Barnard, Professor Simon Hix, Jill Rutter, Professor Tony Travers | One year on from the triggering of Article 50, how far have the Brexit negotiations progressed? What lessons are there for the UK and the European Union? What are the implications for the future? Catherine Barnard (@CSBarnard24) is Professor of E ...…

Speaker(s): Dharshini David | The dollar is the lifeblood of globalisation: China holds billions in reserve for good reason. Greenbacks, singles, bucks or dead presidents, call them what you will, $1.2 trillion worth are floating around right now – and half the dollars in circulation are actually outside of the USA. But what is really happening ...…

Speaker(s): Peter Frase | Robots and artificial intelligence promise to reshape the economy. But the political struggle between workers and owners will determine who really benefits from these changes. Peter Frase (@pefrase) is an editor at Jacobin Magazine and author of Four Futures. Robin Archer is Director of the Ralph Miliband Programme at ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Ash Amin, Dr Victoria Redclift | Migration is integral to the cultural and economic life of cities. Yet we live in a migration milieu in which migrants are rendered as illegal subjects, and where migration processes are reduced to crises at national border points. This event explores the relation between cities, migrants a ...…

Speaker(s): Stefaan de Rynck | Stefaan de Rynck, Senior Advisor to Michel Barnier, Chief EU Negotiator for Brexit, will provide a state of play on the Brexit negotiations. He will focus on the Withdrawal Treaty and the nature of the transition and will address the current progress and possible ways forward. Stefaan De Rynck (@StefaanDeRynck) is ...…

Speaker(s): Hilary Benn | Hilary Benn will speak about the Brexit negotiations and the future of the UK-EU relations. Hilary Benn (@hilarybennmp) is Labour MP for Leeds Central and Chair of the Select Committee on Exiting the European Union. Tony Travers is Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, LSE. This lecture is part of the LSE Progra ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Daniele Archibugi, Alice Pease, Professor Christine Chinkin, Professor Richard Falk, Professor Mary Kaldor | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. In their new book, Crime and Global Justice: The Dynamics of International Punishment, which will be the subject of this discussion, Daniele Ar ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Ursula von der Leyen | Ursula von der Leyen is Germany's Minister of Defence, a position she has held since 2013. Since 2005, Ursula von der Leyen has been a member of the German Federal Cabinet. Before she was appointed Minister of Defence, she served as Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs since November 2009. From 2005 ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Sarah Banet-Weiser, Dr Shani Orgad | In 2018, we are living in a moment in North America and Europe where feminism has become, somewhat incredibly, popular. It seems as if everywhere you turn, there is an expression of feminism—on a t-shirt, in a movie, in the lyrics of a pop song, in an inspirational Instagram post. There ...…

Speaker(s): Poet Curious, Christian Gabriel, Caroline Teague, Desree, Thomas Owoo, Hannah Gordon | LSE LIFE invites you to take part in a night of spoken word performances, philosophical dialogue and hiphop vibes. Poetcurious hosts as hiphop poets from across London perform their spoken word art, offering lyrical rhymes that challenge our assum ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Adura Banke-Thomas, Dr Tania Burchardt, Tammy Campbell, Kathleen Scanlon, Dr Jamie Woodcock | What are the key challenges of welfare states of the future? In a world of limited resources, what should our priority be? To close the LSE Festival, we will pit Beveridge's "five giants" (reimagined as the giant issues of housing and ur ...…

Speaker(s): Brett Heasman, Celestin Okoroji, Professor Bev Skeggs, Dr Jana Uher | Editor's note: We apologise for the poor audio quality of this podcast. There have been significant advances in the rights, recognition and participation of diverse groups of people in the UK over the past 30 years. And yet, people’s backgrounds and characteristic ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Duncan Green, Dr Armine Ishkanian, Dr Michael McQuarrie, Ludovica Rogers | The Beveridge Report's contemporary relevance can only be considered if we properly understand the ways in which civil society actors from across the globe are challenging unequal redistributive systems. The aim of this panel is to challenge the top-down a ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Tania Burchardt, Professor Sir John Hills, Professor Stephen P Jenkins, Professor Lucinda Platt | Taking five ‘Giants’ in the study of poverty over the last 100 years, themselves, like Beveridge, authors of influential reports, this event discusses how their thinking articulates with Beveridge’s vision and has advanced our unders ...…

Speaker(s): Kate Bell, Dr Derek King, Lisa McKenzie | The subject of care is now a central political concern. The consequences of longer lives and new expectations about universal participation in paid work have produced new questions about the ways in which care - for all ages and situations - can be provided and organised. We all know that at ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Paul Dolan | Loneliness is one of the giant issues we are facing as a society today. Our relationships with other people are fundamental to our wellbeing, but what kinds of relationships make us happy or miserable? How should individuals decide when to ‘make or break’ a relationship? Why is the term love often misunderstoo ...…

Speaker(s): Deeti Vyas Béghin, Helen Newcombe, Olivia Pinnock, Roger Williams | As fashion production processes get faster and faster, this event will ask: how can fashion brands and producers adapt their business models, in the face of growing demands to reduce the environmental impacts from the production, consumption and disposal of clothing ...…

Speaker(s): Dr Jonathan Birch, Heikki Helanterä, Hannah Rubin | If evolution is a 'struggle for existence', why do we witness so much altruism in nature? From bacteria to baboons, the natural world is full of spectacular examples of organisms cooperating with one another. In the early 1960s, WD Hamilton changed the way we think about how such b ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Paul Collier, Rubbina Karruna, Paida Hlambelo | Across the developing world, the pace of urbanisation has outstripped the ability of governments to facilitate decent, affordable housing for citizens. With the price of private housing developments making them out of reach to middle income households, urban growth in these r ...…

Speaker(s): Professor Danny Dorling, Lynsey Hanley, Professor Anne Power | The crucially important role of social housing has been recognised following the Grenfell Tower disaster, which also laid bare the disconnect between the ‘elites’ and the most disadvantaged in society.This event explores the link between inequality and housing, evidenced ...…