London School of Economics: Public lectures and events

Speaker(s): Dr Andrew Khoury | This lecture distinguishes between different types of moral responsibility and discusses the implications for our notions of apology, forgiveness, and punishment. Andrew Khoury is a fellow in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE.

Speaker(s): Dr Andrew Beatty | The centrality of emotion in thought and action is increasingly recognised in the human sciences, though basic questions of definition and scope remain unresolved. Where do emotions begin and end? How should we identify and analyse them? How write about them? Ethnographic fieldwork, as pioneered by Malinowski, offers powerful insights into the place of emotion in social life; but emotions are peculiarly difficult to capture in the generalizing format of case study and ethnographic summary. Andrew Beatty argues that semantic, structural, and discourse-based approaches tend to miss what is most important - what counts for the persons concerned and therefore what makes the emotion. Beatty reviews the conceptual and methodological issues and concludes that only a narrative approach can capture both the particularity and the temporal dimension of emotion, restoring verisimilitude and fidelity to experience.Andrew Beatty is author of A Shadow Falls: in the heart of Java and a forthcoming ethnographic narrative After the Ancestors.

Speaker(s): Lord Glasman, Michael Gove | Britain as "One Nation" is an idea of government that belonged to the Conservative Party, originating with Benjamin Disraeli who saw Britain divided into two nations, the rich and the poor. Disraeli defined One Nation politics as the practices necessary to, ‘maintain the institutions of the realm and elevate the condition of the people’.In his 2012 conference speech Ed Miliband defined his party as "One Nation" Labour. In a period of economic crisis and with the loss of public trust in the ability of politicians to renew our institutions and elevate the condition of the people, who now speaks for One Nation?The LSE Institute of Public Affairs is organising a series of events to bring together leading politicians of the Government and Opposition, together with academics and commentators, to discuss the meaning of "One Nation" and the future of the country.The series launches with this debate on the "One Nation" tradition, what it means and how it relates to the issues facing the country today.Michael Gove has been MP for Surrey Heath since 2005 and secretary of state for Education since 2010. Michael was first elected as member of parliament for Surrey Heath in May 2005. He served as shadow minister for Housing & Planning and shadow secretary of State for Children, Schools & Families. He is a former chairman of Policy Exchange, a centre-right think-tank and was previously worked for the Times and the BBC.Maurice Glasman became a Labour Peer in 2011 and is senior lecturer in Political Theory at London Metropolitan University where he is also director of its Faith and Citizenship Programme. Glasman is the originator of the term "Blue Labour", which advocates that the Labour Party should reclaim its more conservative roots from before 1945.

Speaker(s): Dr Ha-Joon Chang, Professor Danny Quah | The Department of International Development’s third annual Development Debate will consider the topic “Does market-led development have a future?”. The debate is organized by the Development Management Programme, and features two world authorities on economic growth and development, Professor Danny Quah of the LSE, and Dr Ha-Joon Chang of Cambridge.Ha-Joon Chang is one of the leading heterodox economists and institutional economists specialising in development economics. Currently Reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge, Chang is the author of several best-selling books, most notably Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (2002) and 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism (2010). He has served as a consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank as well as to Oxfam and various United Nations agencies. He is also a fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.

Speaker(s): Professor John Hyman, Dr Elisabeth Schellekens | What, if anything, do different manifestations of beauty have in common? Does it make sense to apply the concept of beauty to them all, and if so, are there actually different kinds of beauty?John Hyman is professor of aesthetics and fellow of Queen’s College, University of Oxford and editor of the British Journal of Aesthetics.Elisabeth Schellekens is senior lecturer in philosophy at Durham University and co-editor of the British Journal of Aesthetics.

Speaker(s): Dr Ahmad Khalidi | In this talk, Dr Khalidi will discuss developments in the Middle East over the last two years and their impact on the regional state-system, the balance of power and the prospects for a settlement of the Palestinian problem.Ahmad Samih Khalidi is a senior associate member of St Antony's College, Oxford. Professor Fawaz Gerges is Director of the LSE Middle East Centre.

Speaker(s): Sundaresh Menon, Professor Jan Paulsson | A debate on the roles and responsibilities of arbitral institutions, arbitrators and counsel for ensuring that international arbitration remains in tune with new challenges.Sundaresh Menon is the chief justice of Singapore and former attorneygeneral.Jan Paulsson is LSE visiting professor and president of ICCA.

Speaker(s): Amelia Andersdotter MEP, Robert Ashcroft, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Dr Luke McDonagh, Eg White | As the nature of music consumption reaches a critical point, a panel of experts on both sides of the debate discuss the industry’s future.Amelia Andersdotter is a member of the Pirate Party in the European Parliament.Robert Ashcroft is chief executive of PRS for Music.Ludovic Hunter-Tilney is the pop critic for the Financial Times.Luke McDonagh is a fellow in the Department of Law at LSE.Eg White is an Ivor Novello award-winning musician, songwriter and producer.

Speaker(s): Professor Wolfgang Spohn | Drawing on his Lakatos Award winning book The Laws of Belief, Wolfgang Spohn asks how is truth best characterised? And what are the relationships between truth and what it is rational to believe?Wolfgang Spohn is chair in philosophy and philosophy of science at the University of Konstanz.

Speaker(s): Professor Joseph Nye | Wealth and power are shifting from the West to the rising economies of the East. But in a world of complex interdependence, who wields power, to what end, and with what consequences is far from clear. Joseph Nye is distinguished service professor and former dean of the Harvard Kennedy School.

Speaker(s): Professor Anat Admati | The past few years have shown that risks in banking can impose significant costs on the economy. Many claim, however, that a safer banking system would require sacrificing lending and economic growth. Anat Admati examines this claim and the narratives used by bankers, politicians, and regulators to rationalize the lack of reform, exposing them as invalid. Admati calls for ambitious reform and outlines specific and highly beneficial steps that can be taken immediately.Anat Admati is the George G. C. Parker Professor of Finance and Economics at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. She serves on the FDIC Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee and has contributed to the Financial Times, Bloomberg News, and the New York Times. This event marks the publication of her new book The Bankers' New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It.

Speaker(s): Laila El-Haddad, Maggie Schmitt | In the summer of 2010, writer Laila El-Haddad and food documentarian Maggie Schmitt were able to fulfill a long-held plan to travel the length of the Gaza Strip, documenting all aspects of the Gaza District's notably distinctive cuisine, the lives of many experienced Gaza cooks, and the challenges facing the Strip's food system today. The result is The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey, a richly illustrated volume whose 130 fully kitchen-tested recipes represent the first-ever codification of Gaza's rich culinary heritage. The book's numerous sidebars also take the reader into the kitchens, garden-plots, and farms of Gazan families, showing how the resilience and resourcefulness of the Strip's residents-- including the 80% of them who are refugees from parts of the Gaza District that were captured by Israel in 1948-- have helped to keep Gaza's food heritage alive today.The Gaza Kitchen has a Foreword by former New York Times senior food writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins and has received plaudits from many experienced food writers, including Claudia Roden, Anthony Bourdain, and Yotam Ottolenghi. It was named the "Best Arab Cuisine book of 2012" by Gourmand International, and has been widely reviewed in media outlets worldwide.Laila El-Haddad, is a talented blogger, political analyst, social activist, and parent-of-three from Gaza City. Her 2010 book Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting, and Everything in Between won praise from Hanan Ashrawi, Ali Abunimah, and others. Laila was born in Kuwait and raised primarily in Saudi Arabia, while summering in Gaza. She received her BA from Duke University and her MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Maggie Schmitt, is a writer, researcher, translator, educator, and social activist. She holds a B.A. from Harvard in Literature and has conducted advanced graduate studies in Social Anthropology and Mediterranean Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She works in various media—writing, production, photography, video—exploring and recording the daily practices of ordinary people as a way of understanding political and social realities in various parts of the Mediterranean region.

Speaker(s): Gavin Hewitt | Gavin Hewitt will discuss the story of a flawed dream, a noble vision that turned dangerous and which has led Europe into its gravest crisis for which it was totally unprepared.Gavin Hewitt has been the BBC’s Europe editor since 2009. He is an award-winning journalist and has covered stories all over the world. His new book is The Lost Continent: The BBC's Europe Editor on Europe's Darkest Hour Since World War Two.

Speaker(s): Dr Kwesi Aning | An examination of the changing strategic security environment in West Africa and the effectiveness of the response initiated by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with the support of the international community. Kwesi Aning is the head of academic affairs at the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Centre in Accra.

Speaker(s): Professor Matthew Broome, Dr Bonnie Evans, Professor Tim Thornton | How should we think of mental disorders? Can psychiatry be reduced to neuroscience, or is there something irreducibly mental in mental illness?Matthew Broome is associate clinical professor of psychiatry and consultant psychiatrist in early intervention in the Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing at the University of Warwick Medical School.Bonnie Evans is a researcher in the Centre for the Humanities and Health at King’s College London.Tim Thornton is professor of philosophy and mental health at the University of Central Lancashire.