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 approach of defining welfare needs and well-being and to critically examine how civil society actors, ranging from social movements, NGOs, to trade unions, have campaigned for the recognition of needs and for fairer redistribution.

Duncan Green (@fp2p) is Senior Strategic Adviser at Oxfam GB, Professor in Practice in International Development at LSE, Honorary Professor of International Development at Cardiff University and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies. He is author of How Change Happens (OUP, October 2016) and From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States can Change the World (Oxfam International, 2008, second edition 2012). He writes a daily development blog. He was previously Oxfam’s Head of Research, a Visiting Fellow at Notre Dame University, a Senior Policy Adviser on Trade and Development at the Department for International Development (DFID), a Policy Analyst on trade and globalization at CAFOD, the Catholic aid agency for England and Wales and Head of Research and Engagement at the Just Pensions project on socially responsible investment.

Armine Ishkanian (@Armish15) is an Associate Professor and the Programme Director of the MSc in Social Policy & Development (State and NGO Streams) in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Her research examines the relationship between civil society, democracy, development, and social transformation.  She has examined how civil society organisations and social movements engage in policy processes and transformative politics in a number of countries including Armenia, Egypt, Greece, and the UK.  She is the author of two books and numerous peer reviewed academic articles. She also is one of the co-editors of the openMovements section on openDemocracy. 

Michael McQuarrie (@mgmcquarrie) is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at LSE. He is primarily interested in urban politics and culture, nonprofit organizations, governance, social movements, participation and the public sphere. Before earning his Ph.D he worked as a labor organizer in West Virginia, Ohio, and New York and as a community organizer with an Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate in the South Bronx.

Ludovica Rogers (@ldvcrgrs) was an active participant in the Occupy movement and since then has been active in other groups that formed from or around it, such as the movement of the Commons, the #NoTTIP campaign and Debt Resistance UK. She recently founded the co-operative Research for Action that develops investigations to support grassroots organisations in their struggles.

Hakan Seckinelgin is an Associate Professor (Reader) in the Department of Social Policy at LSE.  His work focuses on both the epistemology and politics of international social policy by engaging with people’s lives in different contexts.  He is particularly interested in understanding how we think about policy processes by first thinking about the problems as they are experienced in the everyday lives of those who are supposed to benefit from the policies targeting them. He is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Civil Society.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEBeveridge #LSEFestival

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0 running from Monday 19 to Saturday 24 February 2018, with a series of events rethinking the welfare state for the 21st century and the global context.

Podcast & Video

A podcast and video of this event are available to download from Civil Society and the Five Giants: a global perspective.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.