Lecture 1: Social Movements, Social Change, and Democracy
| Speaker: |
Professor Craig Calhoun, President and Director, LSE |
| Chair: |
Professor Kevin Featherstone FAcSS Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics; Director, Hellenic Observatory, LSE |
| Discussant: |
Professor Nikos Mouzelis, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, LSE |
| Date: |
Wednesday 10 December 2014 |
| Time: |
19:00 |
In recent years, in a period of global instability, a number of significant popular demonstrations have taken place around the world – in Constitution Square in Athens, in Tahrir Square, Tunisia, Chile, Turkey, and more recently in Kiev. What do these popular demonstrations have in common? What can they tell us about democracy, capitalism and the changes occurring in our contemporary societies?
You can watch the video from the LSE Hellenic Alumni Association YouTube channel .
Lecture 2: Power Shift? Decline of the West? Myths, Facts and Economists
| Speaker: |
Professor Michael Cox, Emeritus Professor of International Relations and LSE IDEAS |
| Chair: |
Professor Kevin Featherstone FAcSS Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics; Director, Hellenic Observatory, LSE |
| Discussant: |
Professor George Pagoulatos, Professor of European Politics and Economy, Athens University of Economics & Business |
| Date: |
Monday 9 February 2015 |
| Time: |
19:00 |
As one millennium gave way to another, few in the West worried about the West’s future. A decade later and most writers - and the majority of policy- makers - were now taking it as read that the West's best days were behind it. How and why had this shift taken place? Was indeed such a shift occurring? And what role did the same western economists who failed to predict the 2008 crisis play in shaping this new consensus about the balance of power in the 21st century?
You can watch the video here.
Lecture 3: European obligations and national state cultures: a bridge too far?
| Speaker: |
Professor Kevin Featherstone FAcSS Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics; Director, Hellenic Observatory, LSE |
| Chair: |
Dr Dimitris Sotiropoulos, Associate Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the University of Athens. |
| Discussant: |
Professor Loukas Tsoukalis, Professor of European Integration, University of Athens, and President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, ELIAMEP |
| Date: |
Monday 23 March 2015 |
| Time: |
19:00 |
The euro-crisis has exposed how far the European Union must deal with different ‘worlds of governance’ across its member states. The EU had neglected the challenges of different institutional capacities and administrative cultures in the national implementation of its policies. How come? Now it is drawn into an unprecedented ‘micro-management’ of national reform, raising issues of credibility and legitimacy and risking new national and European cleavages. Can the EU cope with these challenges? Can the ‘bail-out’ states truly standalone?
You can watch the video here.
Lecture 4: The Politics of the Human: Promises and Dangers
| Speaker: |
Professor Anne Phillips FBA, Graham Wallas Professor of Political Science, LSE |
| Chair: |
Professor Kevin Featherstone FAcSS Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of European Politics; Director, Hellenic Observatory, LSE |
|
Discussant:
|
Professor Thalia Dragonas, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Athens; former Member of the Greek Parliament |
| Date: |
Thursday 23 April 2015 |
| Time: |
19:00 |
When we think of ourselves primarily as human, we say that our shared humanity matters more than our race, religion, gender, nationality, and so on. This is a powerful ethical ideal. But the notion of the human can exclude as much as include; and when it diverts attention from difference to commonality, it can encourage an empty sentimentalism that wishes away the realities of power.
You can watch the video here.