This event is by invitation, for further details please contact us: iga@lse.ac.uk

How to Reform the WTO?

Monday 20 July 2020, 1:00pm | Online public event

The selection of the World Trade Organization's new Director General presents an opportunity for reform, but it could also result in a further weakening of the institution. Nominations for the position have just closed. LSE is organising a mini-series of presentations and discussions with the candidates. The first of the candidates to present their vision for globalisation, trade and the WTO will be Dr Jesus Seade, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and Mexico’s chief negotiator of the USMCA, the US, Mexico and Canada Trade Agreement (successor of NAFTA) which came into force on July 1 this year.

Multilateral institutions are increasingly being challenged in recent years. One important criticism is that leaders for these organisations are not selected in a competitive and transparent manner. Promoting a stronger selection process should help enhance the legitimacy of these institutions. Calls for change have been particularly strong at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the global body dealing with the rules of trade between nations.

Speaker: Dr Jesus Seade

Chair: Professor Erik Berglof

Journalism, Power and Pandemic

Wednesday 15 July 2020, 3:00pm | Online public event

How well has the UK news media kept the public informed and held the authorities to account during the COVID-19 crisis?

Leading journalists and political communicators discuss how the news media has coped with the practical, editorial and political challenges of covering coronavirus.

Speakers: Anushka Asthana, Pippa Crerar, Annette Dittert, Richard Horton and Sir Craig Oliver

Chair: Professor Charlie Beckett

Prospects for the UK Economy and Public Spending After COVID-19: new austerity or a new economy?

Friday 10 July 2020, 11:00am | Online public event

The UK government’s response to COVID-19 has seen sudden growth in public spending accompanied by a sharp fall in tax receipts. Public sector borrowing may exceed £300bn in 2020-21, with the UK’s national debt exceeding annual GDP for the first time for decades.

What short-term stimuli might the Chancellor now employ to re-start growth? Can the government imaginably return to austerity policies? Will inequality have increased? Is this the time for a new approach to economic management? Can the economy go back to normal and grow if social distancing restrictions persist? Is the UK out of line with comparable countries? And what about Brexit? The panel will consider these issues and more.

Speakers: Stephanie Flanders, Professor Stephen Machin and Dr Gemma Tetlow

Chair: Professor Andrés Velasco

From Rulership to Leadership: what lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Thursday 2 July 2020, 1:00-8:00pm | Online public event

Join us, alongside our media partners The New York Times, Caixin Media and our content partner Kite Insights for this virtual event and the opportunity to be part of Maryam Forum from its outset!

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged humanity like no other shock in recent memory. Every country and every individual in our deeply interconnected world has felt the impacts, with its twin health and economic crises creating widespread social disruption and unprecedented uncertainty. Even before COVID-19, it was clear many of the challenges we face today demand system change that cannot be achieved by self-interested rulers. It is urgent that we overcome this leadership gap.

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Crafting the Global COVID-19 Response_300x300

Life After COVID-19: challenges and policy response

Friday 26 June 2020, 12:00pm | Online public event

Join us for this online public event with the former leaders of Australia, Chile, Italy and New Zealand.

Speakers: Michelle Bachelet, Helen Clark, Matteo Renzi, Kevin Rudd and Minouche Shafik.

Chair: Professor Andrés Velasco

Do we have the WHO we need? Global Health Governance and Reform

Thursday 25 June 2020, 1:30pm | Online public event

As debates about the future of the World Health Organization rage on, the COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder of the vital importance of global public health institutions.

What lessons can we draw from the current pandemic from WHO’s performance and previous efforts to reform it? What principles should guide WHO’s missions and tools to deal with pandemics? Could reforms centre around having a narrower mission and creating better incentives to prevent contagions from spreading globally using stronger legal and financial tools? How can we achieve better coordination among the many diverse actors on the global health stage?

Join Lucie Gadenne, Maitreesh Ghatak, Rebecca Katz, Clare Wenham and Erik Berglöf in this webinar discussion.

COVID-19 in South Asia: Bangladesh, India and Pakistan

Monday 22 June 2020, 4:00pm | Online public event

The event will explore how governments in South Asia are tackling COVID-19 and will focus specifically on Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

South Asia is home to a quarter of humanity and its policy response to COVID-19 matters for the world but there are markedly different views on the policy response in South Asia.

Join panelists Tania Aidrus, Yamini Aiyar, Jishnu Das, Mushfiq Mobarak and Chair Adnan Khan as they discuss what can be learned from the South Asian experience and the challenges that lie ahead for the region.

Financing the Post-COVID-19 Recovery

Closing

Friday 19 June, 3.00pm | Online public event

This panel will discuss the ways in which advanced economies as well as emerging markets can create the fiscal space to boost post-COVID-19 recovery prospects.

While some countries are still in the midst of the COVID-19 health crisis, others are starting on their way to economic recovery. Recovery after such a tremendous shock will be painful and expensive. There is still enormous uncertainty both on the health front, as well as on the economic front. Policies in both directions require significant new budget allocations.

Join Simeon Djankov, Anne-Laure Kiechel, Ugo Panizza, Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Andrés Velasco in this webinar discussion co-hosted by IGA.

How did we end up here? Governance lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic

Thursday 18 June, 1.30pm | Online public event

Countries have chosen different strategies for how to address the COVID-19 pandemic. We have some early evidence on how successful the various approaches have been, but it is too early to pass definitive judgement. Yet it is useful to ask questions about how particular strategies were chosen.

What was the allocation of responsibilities? How clear was it? What checks and balances were in place to ensure that the scientific evidence was properly considered and different views of scientists, including social and behavioural scientists, were heard in the process? How did the interaction between the scientific community and policy makers? What was the role of the political process? How transparent were the discussions within and across the various communities? What role did media play? Is there any accountability after the fact?

These are some of the issues we will address in this webinar. We will draw particularly on the UK and Swedish experiences, both outliers of sort, but we will also look at the broader experience.

Join Karolina Ekholm, Jeremy Farrar, Bengt Holmström, Devi Sridhar and Erik Berglof in this webinar discussion.

Crucial Role of State Capacity in Crisis Response

Tuesday 16 June, 5.00pm | Online public event

How states respond to the policy challenges posed by COVID-19 depends on the state capacities in place. While some capacity can be built or adapted rapidly, much of that capacity is a reflection of historical patterns of economic and political development. This online public event will explore state capacities, how they are created and maintained and how they reflect state-society relations, exploring the role of civil society as well as government.

The event will explore how state capacities underpin the effectiveness of government interventions in different countries in response to the COVID-19 crisis. It will also discuss what can be learned from this and the challenges that lied ahead drawing on insights from economics and political science.

Join Tim Besley, Adnan Khan, Margaret Levi and Erik Berglof in this webinar discussion.

Digital Currencies and Stable Coins as Crisis Management Tools

Thursday 11 June, 2.00pm | Online public event

Payment systems and money are evolving rapidly. Developments in information technology, digital networks and the increase in internet-based retailing have created the demand and technological space for digital transactions that have the potential to radically change payment and financial intermediation systems.

Will COVID-19 accelerate these changes? How radical or similar could this new landscape be? What kinds of design choices and/or regulatory response might make the difference? How might Central Banks support and adapt?

Join Benoît Cœuré, Piroska Nagy-Mohacsi, Christina Segal-Knowles, Ricardo Reis and Erik Berglof in this webinar discussion.

Fiscal Policies to Support People and Growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Monday 8 June, 3.00pm (BST) | Online public event

Fiscal policies have been central for providing emergency lifelines to people and firms during the COVID-19 pandemic, and are also at the forefront of facilitating a recovery once the lockdown ends. This online event will focus on how policy makers can support fast and sustainable recovery. It will also consider the role of the “other government”: state-owned enterprises and public banks in supporting the recovery, drawing based on the latest IMF Fiscal Monitor.

Join Simeon Djankov, Zsoka Kockzan, W. Raphael Lam, Catherine Pattillo, Alexander Plekhanov, Mehdi Raissi and Piroska Nagy Mohacsi in this webinar discussion.

Shrinking Capitalism

Thursday 4 June, 1.00pm (BST) | Online public event

The COVID-19 pandemic along with climate change has dramatized the obsolescence of the benchmark paradigm that still forms the basis of undergraduate teaching and popular discussion of economics.

As was the case in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Great Depression a combination of new problems and new developments in economic theory provide the groundwork for a new paradigm. This would allow us to escape the limits of the government versus markets policy menu and encompass motivations beyond material gain and compliance with governmental authority to include ethical motivations of solidarity and duty that have underpinned successful anti-COVID policies.

Join Philippe Aghion, Samuel Bowles, Wendy Carlin, David Soskice and Erik Berglof in this webinar discussion.

The Political Economy of COVID-19: what do we learn from Emerging Europe?

Thursday 28 May, 1.30pm | Online public event

It is often said that more authoritarian regimes can fight the virus more effectively. At the same time independent media has been emphasised as an important factor in influencing both the choice of response strategies and the reporting of official numbers for infections and deaths.

The responses to the COVID-19 pandemic vary greatly across Emerging Europe. To what extent does this variation reflect the diversity of political regimes in place across the region? What do we learn about the political economy of COVID-19? Is the pandemic going to have a lasting impact on the varieties of capitalism in Emerging Europe?

Join Selva Demiralp, Sergei Guriev, Beata Javorcik, Kori Udovicki and Erik Berglof in this webinar discussion.

Addressing the Pandemic: the pharmaceutical challenges

Tuesday 26 May, 12.00pm | Online public event

The panel will examine a range of issues related to the development and use of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, including the range of incentives for innovation and national approaches to purchasing, price negotiations, and intellectual property and trade policies.

Join speakers Kalipso Chalkidou, Panos Kanavos, Margaret Kyle and Ken Shadlen in discussing these pharmaceutical challenges. Chaired by Ernestina Coast.

Responding to a Pandemic: the view from Latin America

Friday 22 May, 4.00pm | Online public event

Latin America is being hit by the virus and by a number of adverse economic shocks. How can the region’s democracies preserve both lives and livelihoods? What will be the impact on the region’s already low economic growth and high inequality?

Join the five former Latin American heads of state: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Laura Chinchilla, Ricardo Lagos, Juan Manuel Santos and Dr Ernesto Zedillo, as they bring their knowledge and experience to bear on these difficult questions. With Introduction by Minouche Shafik and chaired by Andrés Velasco.

Recovering from COVID-19: China and global value chains

Thursday 21 May, 1.00pm | Online public event

Some developments of globalisation of production processes are now in reverse across countries, with COVID-19 causing additional challenges for these global value chains. Over the last two decades, China's role in these production arrangements has increased dramatically, and China is investing in the technologies that will shape the value chains of the future.

Join the discussion, with panellists Pol Antrás, Davin Chor, Alicia Garcia-Herrero and Huang Yiping asking how COVID-19 will affect these patterns and what the trend towards global value chains will look like post-COVID-19. Chaired by Erik Berglof.

COVID-19: the economic policy response

Monday 18 May, 4.00pm | Online public event

The virus and the resulting lockdown are a tremendous adverse shock to the economy. Policy must respond to save lives and to prevent lasting damage to livelihoods and productivity. This panel, comprised of Professor Adnan Khan, Professor Ricardo Reis and Professor Silvana Tenreyro, will review the challenges that both advanced and developing countries face, and suggest some feasible ways forward. Chaired by Professor Andrés Velasco.

Living with Lockdowns: early lessons from India's COVID-19 response

Thursday 14 May, 1.30pm | Online public event

Join the discussion with panellists Kaushik Basu, Ashwini Deshpande, Maitreesh Ghatak and Debraj Ray on India's COVID-19 policies, the lessons learnt so far and recommendations for the future. What lessons can be drawn for more effective mitigation of the economic and political impact from these policies?

The Great Reversal in the Time of COVID-19

Wednesday 13 May, 6.00pm | Online public event

In his new book, Thomas Philippon argues that many key problems of the American economy are due not to the flaws of capitalism or the inevitabilities of globalisation but to the concentration of corporate power. By lobbying against competition, the biggest firms drive profits higher while depressing wages and limiting opportunities for investment, innovation, and growth. How is COVID-19 affecting these patterns? Chaired by Erik Berglof and in discussion with Angelo Martelli.

Strategic Leadership in the Time of COVID-19

Monday 11 May, 4.30pm | Online public event

Join General David Petraeus, in discussion with Professor Michael Barzelay and Dr Shirley Yu, as he develops his model of strategic leadership, developed during a senior military career and as leader of a large government agency, and what it implies for management in the context of a pandemic. Chaired by Professor Erik Berglof.

Born Out of Necessity: a debt standstill for COVID-19

Thursday 7 May, 1.30pm | Online public event

The COVID-19 crisis has led to a sudden collapse in capital flows to emerging and developing countries, who now face problems servicing their external debts while addressing the growing economic strain of the pandemic. Immediate action is needed to prevent disorderly defaults, litigations, and a collapse in the international debt market.

Patrick Bolton, Lee Buchheit, Mitu Gulati, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Ugo Panizza and Beatrice Weder di Mauro discuss why low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable, discuss what is at stake for the world economy, and present a mechanism to implement a debt standstill which would free significant resources to cover some of the more immediate costs of the COVID-19 crisis.

COVID-19: keeping trade routes open

Thursday 30 April, 5.00pm | Online public event

Just when an open trading system is needed more than ever to help nations cope with COVID-linked supply-disruptions, the system’s functioning is threatened by short-sighted thinking. In both advanced and emerging economies, trade and investment restrictions are springing up around the globe on medical equipment, food, and essential inputs – more on the export than import side, it seems. Much of the policy has been set without a clear understanding of how manufacturing and agriculture production is actually organised in the 21st century.

Join Erik Berglof, Swati Dhingra, Simon Evenett and Pascal Lamy in this webinar that will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on global trade.

The COVID-19 Crisis Response: putting women at the centre

Wednesday 29 April, 1.00pm | Online public event

This is a crisis like no other that the global community has had to face. Perhaps more than previous epidemics, COVID-19 has demonstrated that whilst outbreaks can affect anyone, women are often differentially affected – within the home, within the economy and within policy space. Yet most governments have failed to take this into consideration in decision-making, despite the knowledge gained from Ebola, Zika, and Pandemic Influenza. We also know that in conflict and fragile contexts where governments are absent, unwilling or overwhelmed, women peace-builders have been the first responders to the crisis. Would policy responses look different if women were in positions of leadership?

Chaired by Professor Erik Berglof, speakers Professor Naila Kabeer, Sanam Naragi Anderlini MBE and Dr Clare Wenham consider the role of women in leadership and the impact of COVID-19 on women.

Fragile States Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic

Monday 27 April, 1.00pm | Online public event

Around half of the world population living in extreme poverty resides in fragile states which are the least prepared to address the health and economic crises in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding how state fragility should be taken into account in the design of macro-economic policy and crisis response is therefore crucial.

Professor Oriana Bandiera, Professor Tim Besley, Dr Raphael Espinoza and Professor Adnan Khan will discuss the concept of state fragility, explain how the macro-economies of fragile states differ from those of other developing economies, and update on the status of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic crisis in fragile states. The speakers will offer lessons regarding policies to escape fragility, policies to manage fragile economies, and crucial steps that fragile states and the international community need to take to fight the crisis.

COVID-19 and the social contract on North Africa and the Middle East

Thursday 23 April, 3.30pm | Online public event

The COVID-19 pandemic has already taken many lives and caused significant economic damage in North Africa and the Middle East. For many countries the economic impact - the drops in commodity prices, tourism revenues, remittances, and the capital flight - is hitting even before the virus as taken hold. The region was already very volatile with several open wars, in Syria, Yemen, Libya, and wide-scale economic hardship and political unrest, perhaps most vividly illustrated by Lebanon, but with pressures building across the region. The acceleration of the pandemic will put tremendous pressure on fragile healthcare systems and attempts to lockdown the economies to reduce the spread of the virus will be met with resistance from a very young population already suffering from a lack of opportunities. In this panel, Masood Ahmed, Professor Melani Cammett, Professor Steffen Hertog and Khalid Abdulla-Janahi will take stock of what we can expect from this combustible combination of economic, political and social factors over the coming months. What can Europe do to avoid this becoming a series of cataclysmic events with huge loss in life that will eventually spill over onto the continent?

The Swedish Exception: early lessons from Sweden's different approach to COVID-19

Wednesday 22 April, 3.30pm | Online public event

Sweden has been pursuing a different approach to suppressing the epidemic curve, relying mainly on voluntary measures and keeping more of the economy open. The main theory has been that the population would respond to advice from the government because of the strong level of trust in Swedish society - the citizens' trust in government institutions, the government's trust in the citizens, and the trust among citizens. Also, the approach of allowing the development of "herd immunity" got traction. Some aspects of this approach appear to have worked well, other aspects less so. The results so far point to a high death toll compared to other Nordic countries which have taken tougher measures, though the jury is still out on the long term outcome. In this panel, Professor Peter Baldwin, Professor Sara Hagemann, Professor Ole Petter Ottersen and Professor Lars Trägårdh will draw early lessons from the Swedish experiment that could be relevant for emerging economies and developing countries that, for one reason or another, cannot afford massive lockdowns.

Now or Never: crafting the COVID-19 response

Tuesday 21 April, 4.30pm | Online public event

This unprecedented global crisis requires an unprecedented global response. The first contours of such a response are slowly emerging, but there are important missing pieces and the speed and scale are not sufficient. Most of the measures taken so far have come from the international financial institutions, with the G20 Leaders slowly catching up. The G20 Finance Ministers meeting and the IMF Spring meetings took place last week and we know have a G20 Action Plan. Regional leaders have also taken steps to address the crisis in their respective regions. In this panel, Rt Hon Gordon Brown, Dame Minouche Shafik, Professor Lawrence H Summers and Professor Andrés Velasco will take stock of where we are and what needs to happen in coming months.

The Three Horsemen - Pandemic, War and Depression in the 20th Century

Friday 17 April, 5.00pm GMT | Online public event

This lecture will focus on the economic and financial consequences of the “three horsemen” – pandemics, wars and depressions. Professor Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley, will draw on evidence from the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, World War I, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and World War II. He will look at the economic consequences and specifically at the fiscal and financial consequences, specifically how the resulting debts were managed. The lecture will be followed by comments by Professor Ricardo Reis, LSE and chaired by Professor Erik Berglof, Director of LSE Institute of Global Affairs at the School of Public Policy.

Listen to the joint EBRD-IGA podcast

Coronavirus and the global economy: what next?

Thursday 16 April, 1.00pm GMT | Online public event

Leading economists discuss the impact of Covid-19 across the EBRD regions in Europe, Asia and Africa and beyond.

The economic and political impacts of the coronavirus pandemic are growing more dramatic by the day. Millions of businesses and the jobs they support are under threat. Commentators already fear the steepest economic slump since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Civil liberties are coming under pressure in many countries.

The era of globalisation may not be at an end, but will look profoundly different. What exactly will the consequences be for the global economy - and what lessons should we draw from the events of the last few months?

To find out, join this EBRD-LSE IGA virtual discussion with current EBRD Chief Economist Beata Javorcik and three former Chief Economists:

Professor Erik Berglöf, LSE
Professor Sergei Guriev, SciencesPo Paris
Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, LSE

The discussion will be moderated by Jonathan Charles, EBRD Managing Director, Communications.

The panellists will examine the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on climate change, trade, globalisation and the many other challenges emerging from the pandemic.

The COVID-19 Crisis: Wartime and After…

Thursday 2 April, 2.00pm GMT | Online public event

The COVID-19 emergency requires us to think in terms of war. The renowned economic historian Professor Harold James will consider lessons from wartime economies and post-war reconstruction in modern economic history. How do we learn and adjust in times of war? What will the “post-war order” look like? The COVID-19 pandemic can pull us apart, but it also represents an opportunity to establish a new international order and design new mechanisms to collectively address future challenges. The lecture will be followed by comments by Professor Ethan Ilzetzki, LSE and chaired by Professor Erik Berglof, Director of LSE Institute of Global Affairs.

2020 LSE East Asia Forum Youth in the East Asia: Pioneers of Change

Saturday 28 March 2020

Update: due to unforeseen circumstances this event has been cancelled. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Should we be afraid of the rise of China?

Monday 9 March, 2.30pm | Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

China’s emergence as a global leader challenges established foundations of current political and economic thinking. What is the optimal form of capitalism? What is the relevance of multilateralism in a world of two dominant powers? Where does the future of Eurasia lie?

Former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, current special envoy of the French government to China, will share his views on China and a future Eurasia. As Prime Minister, Raffarin paid an official visit to China during the SARS outbreak in 2003, an important gesture at the time and one of particular relevance today as China faces the NCov-2019 outbreak.

Financial Sector Transformation in Small Open Economies: What Role for Central Banks?

Wednesday 26 February, 6.30pm | Vera Anstey Room, Old Building, LSE

Governor Gent Sejko of the Bank of Albania discusses the dramatic transformation of the banking systems of small open economies of South East Europe in the wake of the global financial crisis and as they prepare to join the European Union.

The 2020 African Economic Outlook: Developing Africa’s Workforce for the Future

Thursday 20 February, 12.30pm | The Box, Pethick Lawrence House, LSE

Hanan Morsy will discuss the overall assessment of the 2020 African Economic Outlook, the annual flagship report from the African Development Bank. This year’s report focuses on the skills gap. Despite progress in recent decades, Africa still lags behind other developing regions in education and skill development. The report sheds light on the role of education in explaining economic complexity of countries and their participation in global value chains; and it offers innovative strategies for financing skills and education development in the continent.

Hanan Morsy is Director, Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting and Research Department, African Development Bank.

Click here for event details

Click here to read the African Economic Outlook 2020

2020 LSESU Italian Forum Beyond Brexit: the future of Europe in the Global Economy

Tuesday 18 February, 6.30pm | PAN.G.01, Pankhurst House, LSE

Romano Prodi will give his expert view on Italy and Europe’s future after Brexit and how Europe can keep a strong position between the superpowers US and China.

Click here for event details

Click here to view the video of the event

2020 LSESU China Development Forum: Riding Tides in Uncertain Times

Saturday 8 February 2020

Update: due to unforeseen circumstances this event has been cancelled. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Maryam Forum Launch: From rulership to leadership: who will lead the transformation?

Monday 20 January | Davos, Switzerland

At the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos, this session celebrated the launch of the Maryam Forum in 2020, an initiative which aims to foster the emergence of just and collaborative leadership. Drawing on the creativity of LSE students and faculty the Forum wants to create an ecosystem that nurtures meritocracy, accountability and inclusion. Through capacity building and peer to peer exchange it will connect students with global policy and business leaders.

Click here for further information

Ukraine: Break-through or roll-back of reforms?

Tuesday 26 November, 7.00pm | Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE

Valeria Gontareva, former Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine will be in conversation with Yuri Bender (Financial Times) and joined by Francis Malige (EBRD) to discuss the banking reforms she managed and the potential risk of a roll-back following political changes in Ukraine.

Event co-hosted by Ukrainian Institute London and LSE Institute of Global Affairs.

Click here for registration and event details

Liberalisation and Financial Resilience in a Global Context

Joint Tsinghua University - LSE Workshop

Tuesday 5 November | Tsinghua University, Beijing

This workshop will discuss distortions and the two-sector nature of the Chinese economy; financial liberalisation under such circumstances; and China’s growing engagement in global financial governance – “Global China”.

Workshop programme

For further details contact iga@lse.ac.uk

This is Not Propaganda

Tuesday 5 November, 6:30pm | Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE

Post-truth, disinformation, bots, trolls, ISIS, Putin, Trump….we live in a world of media manipulation run amock. To understand the new propaganda, and what to do about it, we need to grasp both the cultural and technological dynamics in play, which is what this panel sets out to do.

Peter Pomerantsev, author of This is Not Propaganda – Adventures in the War Against Reality will be joined by Joanna Kavenna, author of new tech-dystopian novel Zed, and Dr Martin Moore of Kings College London, author of Democracy Hacked: How Technology is Destabilising Global Politics, to grapple with both the philosophical and computational dramas of the disinformation age.

Understanding Lebanon's Protests: A socio-economic take

Friday 1 November, 6.30pm | Vera Anstey Room, Old Building, LSE

The Institute of Global Affairs and the Middle East Centre launched a seminar series revolving around the major demonstrations across Lebanon.

Click here for the full programme.

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The Iron Snake

Friday 18 October, 6.30pm | Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

Chinese-Zimbabwean film-maker Sekai Zengeza was joined alongside a host of excellent speakers to discuss the controversial Iron Snake Railway.

Click here for registration and full programme

How is data helping end human trafficking and modern slavery?

Thursday 17 October, 5:45pm | FAW.9.04, Fawcett House, LSE

To mark Anti-Slavery Day 2019, this panel event critically explored global, national and local data on human trafficking, going beyond discussing what data tells us about the prevalence and nature of human trafficking and modern slavery. The aim was to present the important contribution that data can make to inform policy and programming towards eradicating human trafficking and modern slavery. The seminar highlighted a number of different initiatives and work being done to improve data on human trafficking and modern slavery.

Click here for registration and full programme

Gandhi Reborn - 150 years later

Tuesday 15 October, 6.45pm | Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE

On his 150th Birth Anniversary, we propose to re-examine the relevance of his ideas in resolving the conflicts of the 21st century.

A Brave New World? - The Future of Banking in Emerging Europe Rethinking Size, Structure, Ownership, Policies and Incentives

Thursday 10 and Friday 11 October | Tirana, Albania

Annual conference of the Bank of Albania, co-organised with the London School of Economics and Political Science.

View the programme

The New Approaches of the Belt and Road Initiatives

Wednesday 2 October, 6.30pm | LSE Lecture Theatre, centre Building, LSE

How will the Belt and Road Initiative relate to the New Opening Strategy? What do increasing Sino-US Economic tensions mean for the importance of the Belt and Road Initiative? How can regional governance address the challenges of the Belt and Road? What role will new technologies play?

Professor Huang Renwei (Executive Director-General of the Fudan Institute of Belt and Road and Global Governance) discussed these and other key issues at this event, hosted by the LSE School of Public Policy, and the Institute of Global Affairs.

What Citizens of the World Can Learn from Nationalism

Monday 16 September, 6:30pm | Auditorium, Centre Building, LSE

Today, globalism is seen as a reckless elitist plot. Meanwhile, nationalists are derided as racists and bigots. But what if the two were not so far apart? In this talk, British-Iraqi development expert Hassan Damluji discusses The Responsible Globalist, a manifesto for building an inclusive global nation.

This event forms part of the “Shape the World” series, held in the run up to the LSE Festival, a week-long series of events taking place from 2 to 7 March 2020, free to attend and open to all, exploring how social sciences can make the world a better place. The full programme will be available online from January 2020.

Beyond Remittances: Optimizing Diaspora's Role in Development

Tuesday 2 July, 5:30pm | FAW.9.04, Fawcett House, LSE

To mark the 2019 International Family Remittance Day, the IOM-LSE IGA joint seminar will examine how to fully leverage the various contributions that diasporas can make and align them with the challenges of development. This includes important considerations about the role host countries (like the UK) can play in supporting the efficient maximisation of diaspora contributions, through polices, strategies and initiatives. Such alignment between home and host countries’ priorities and support will offer a baseline for mutual cooperation in supporting diaspora’s transnational civic engagement.

Event co-hosted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Institute of Global Affairs.

Click here to view the event programme

Siracusa IV - 6th ALUM Research Conference on Migration

24-25 June | Ortygia Business School - Siracusa, Italy

This year's conference focuses on the link between migration and development. Several international studies confirm that migration enhances the development of origin and destination countries. However, the potentional of migration is not yet fully exploited. While migration can be a powerful poverty reduction tool and contribute to the achievement of all the SDG's, the specific risks and vulnerabilities of migrants are often overlooked. This coupled with a weak implementation of support programmes and major data gaps calls for renewed research efforts and policy action. It will seek to address these and several other key questions including do policy makers sufficiently take migration into account in their respective policy areas? How to better integrate migration into development strategies? Is it necessary to improve co-ordination mechanisms and strengthen international co-operation?

Click here for event details and programme

Ashoka Mody | All central banks are not equal

Wednesday 19 June | LSE

Professor Mody investigates the credibility and effectiveness of the world’s leading central banks, with a special focus on the European Central Bank.

For further details please contact iga@lse.ac.uk.

Ruben Andersson | No Go World: How fear is redrawing our maps and infecting our politics

Monday 10 June, 6.30pm | Shaw Library, Old Building

Professor Ruben Andersson will be in dialogue with Professor Myria Georgiou to discuss Andersson’s book No Go World: how fear is redrawing our maps and infecting our politics.

In his book Ruben Andersson explores how Western states and international organisations conduct military, aid, and border interventions in a dangerously myopic fashion, disconnecting the world’s rich and poor.

Valeria Gontareva | How to do a Comprehensive Banking Reform

Thursday 6 June, 3.00pm | Shaw Library, Old Building

Using the example of the National Bank of Ukraine, Valeria Gontareva presents recommendations for monetary policy and banking sector reform, particularly in emerging markets and developing countries.

Click here to view the presentation

How Reform Worked in China

Tuesday 21 May, 6:30pm | Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

Chinese economist Yingyi Qian will be in dialogue with Jin Keyu to discuss Qian’s book How Reform Worked in China: The Transition from Plan to Market.

In his book Yingyi Qian asks whether Chinese successful economic design at the institutional and policy levels and the dual-track implementation of markets can enrich the world’s repository of understanding of contemporary modalities of development. He argues that to understand how reform has worked in China one has to look at initial historical conditions and contemporary constraints.

Chair: Professor Erik Berglof, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs.

The Educator's Challenge Awards

Wednesday 15 May, 8.30am | Old Theatre, Old Building

Co-hosted by the Global Challenges Foundation and the Institute of Global Affairs.

How do we effectively communicate and increase engagement around such daunting issues as climate change, weapons of mass destruction and pandemics, which require improved global cooperation?

Join us on this educational day and meet the finalists of the Educators' Challenge competition who will pitch their ideas and methods to address some of the most pressing issues of our time.

Full programme and registration

Katrín Jakobsdóttir | The Politics of Equality, the "Populist Moment" and the Power of New Technologies

Thursday 2 May, 6.30pm | Venue tbc to ticket holders

Co-hosted by the International Inequalities Institute, the Systemic Risk Centre and the Institute of Global Affairs.

Katrín Jakobsdóttir will discuss democratic challenges stemming from social inequalities, authoritarian politics and new technologies.

Chair: Dame Minouche Shafik, Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Click here for more information.

LSE SU East Asia Forum | New Chapter for Cooperation?

Saturday 23 March | Old Theatre, Old Building

Co-hosted by the LSE SU's Korea Future Forum, Japan Society, China Development Society and LSE's Institute of Global Affairs.

2018 was the year of changes in East Asia. Can 2019 be the year for cooperation and integration?

We are living in an era of non-cooperation and uncertainty - Brexit, US’ withdrawal from the TPP, US-China trade war, South Korea and North Korea are far yet to have actual progression, and continuous historical disputes between neighbouring countries still exist. It is the time where cooperation between countries is desperately needed.

Click here for more information and tickets.

On. Marco Minniti and Marta Foresti | Migration and Security in the Mediterranean

Tuesday 12 March 2.00pm | New Academic Building

Co-hosted by the LSESU Italian Society and the Institute of Global Affairs.

Central focus of the event will be migration flows and foreign policy. The discussion will be based on the book "Sicurezza e libertà", recently published by On. Marco Minniti.

The event is free and open to all. Get your ticket at the following link.

G20 Simulation

Friday 1 March, 6.30pm | Alumni Theatre, New Academic Building

Professor Erik Berglof and Dr Angelo Martelli will host a simulation event for PPE students on how G20 international negotiations work.

Using the G20 Eminent Persons Group report on Global Financial Governance – Making the Global Financial Systems Work for All – the simulation will see PPE students working in teams to represent the interests of particular nations and international organisations involved in global financial governance. The event will work as a role-play exercise to simulate a forthcoming meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Japan to decide the priorities among the proposals put forward by the Eminent Persons Group, making this a hands-on learning experience. Presentations from Professor Andrés Velasco and Professor Nicholas Stern, both members of this Eminent Persons Group, will also be used as part of the simulation.

At the end of the event, we’ll be serving drinks and pizza (it is Friday after all!).

To register for this event please email c.v.stern@lse.ac.uk

Richard Baldwin | The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work

Tuesday 26 February, 6.30pm | Vera Anstey Room, Old Building

In this engagingly-written, insight-packed book, Richard Baldwin, one of the world’s leading thinkers on globalization, argues that “globots” will build a better future, but will create explosive social challenges along the way. Digital technology is allowing “white-collar robots” to displace may service-sector workers and professionals while at the same time enabling “telemigration” where talented, low-cost workers sitting abroad displace domestic office workers.
If displaced office workers join with already displaced factory workers, the result could be a destabilizing upheaval. To avoid this, Baldwin asserts that governments must use the tools they have slow the pace and make the competition from globots seem fairer.

Vito Tanzi | Fiscal Resilience: Termites of the State

Embracing New Dynamics

China Development Forum 2019

Saturday 23 February 2019 | Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

Hosted by LSE SU China Development Society and the LSE Institute of Global Affairs in conjunction with the Confucius Institute for Business London (CIBL)

Morning session: China and the world

Throughout the tide of history, the economic position of China has waxed and waned, progressed and regressed. But China may have finally found its place in the global economy, ending a past of instability and decline. This high tide may yet stay as China truly takes its great leap forward, embodying a growing influence in a world of interdependence. Inevitably, however, the rise of China has come hand-in-hand with a rise in anxiety among the world’s top nations, all reluctant to loosen their grip on their economic thrones in the midst of potential power shifts and competition for the global crown. How would China resist and face such tempestuous gales? Only time will tell. We cordially invite you to our speakers’ panel in the China Development Forum, to engage with the World, with China, and to discover what lies in store for the economic miracle at present and in the future.

Afternoon session: Innovations of China

Over the past years, Chinese companies have seen enormous innovation: from the National Super Computing Center in Wu xi, the world’s fastest supercomputer, with 10.65 million CPU cores, to Ehang Inc launching the world’s first aerial passenger drone. Chinese innovation is visible everywhere: internet business models, telecommunications, software, artificial intelligence, fin-tech (financial technology), new materials, consumer products, high-end equipment, and green technologies. Companies such as Huawei, Tencent and Alibaba have become household names throughout the world. China has made tremendous strides in many fields, but especially in A.I. Businesses and government have collaborated on a sweeping plan to make China the world's primary A.I. innovation center by 2030, and they are already making significant progress towards that goal.

Click here for the more information.

Thursday 31 January, 6.30pm | Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building

Dr Vito Tanzi's lecture will focus on two related developments. First , for various reasons, market relations have become much more complex than they used to be. Asymmetry of information in market exchanges has become common and dominant. This asymmetry has questioned a basic assumption (stressed by economists, such as Hayek, Friedman and market fundamentalists), that the market does not require regulations, and that free exchanges are always welfare enhancing. Second, governmental intervention has become increasingly complex. This has opened possibilities for rent seeking and for abuses and has contributed to increasing inequality.

The lecture will conclude with a plea for less complexity in public policies.

Jacques de Larosière | The demise of the Bretton-Woods system explains much of our current financial vulnerabilities

Thursday 31 January, 2.00pm | Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

During this lecture, Jacques de Larosière, former Managing Director of the IMF; Governor of the Bank of France and President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will analyse the causes of the demise of the Bretton-Woods institutions that were created in the aftermath of the Second World War, and discuss the policy implications of his main findings.

Michael Bordo | An Historical perspective on the Quest for financial Stability and the Monetary Policy Regime

Wednesday 30 January, 6.30pm | Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building

Taking a historical perspective, Professor Michael Bordo’s LSE public lecture examines the evolving relationship between monetary policy and financial stability, which is at the forefront of the current policy debate. He finds that historically financial crises have multiple causes, and that credit-driven asset price booms/busts rarely lead to financial crisis. The notable exceptions are the “perfect storms” of 1929/33 and 2007/8. If indeed rare, should the post global financial crisis regulatory system be permanently built on the unique experience of 2007/8?

Financial Resilience and Systemic Risk Conference

30-31 January, 9.00am | FAW.9.05, Fawcett House

Co-hosted by the LSE's Institute of Global Affairs, the Financial Markets Group Research Centre and the Systemic Risk Center

Conference overview

Can China escape the Middle Income Trap?

Tuesday 4 December, 6.30pm | Vera Anstey Room, Old Building

The Chinese Economy is evolving rapidly. Despite a slowdonwn in growth in recent years China is continuing to climb up the value-added ladder in many industries and in some areas of high tech Chinese companies are on par with or even ahead of US and European competitors. These changes are accompanied by important institutional changes throughout the economy and in the political sphere. Yet, there are important questions about China's ability to escape the co-called Middle Income Trap where many countries have failed in making the transition from middle-income to high-income status. Where is China in this regard?

The LSE Institute of Global Affairs is delighted to welcome two of China's foremost economists: Professor Chong-En Bai, Chairman of the Economics Department at Tsinghua University and incoming Dean of the School of Economics and Management, China's top economics department and business school; Professor Xu Chenggang, Cheung Kong Business School, was the winner of the 2016 China Economic Prize. Both have played important roles in economic policymaking in China over the last two decades.Dr Yu Tinghua is a Fellow in the LSE Department of Government and teaches at the LSE School of Public Policy.

'What explains the Polish Miracle and what happened to it?'

Wednesday 21 November, 6.30pm | 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields G.03

Dr Marcin Piatkowski will prsent the key messages from his book on "Europe's Growth Champion. Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland", OUP 2018, including:

(i) why Poland and Central and Eastern Europe have been always underdeveloped,

(ii) what were the driver's of Poland's economic success after 1989, when it has become the fastest growig economy in Europe and in the world, among economies with a similar level of income, and

(iii) what needs to happen for this success story to continue.

Engaging China: a conversation with The New York Times and London School of Economics.

Monday 26 November, 7.00pm | FAW.9.04, Fawcett House

After centuries of isolation, China is reclaiming what its leaders regard as its rightful position in Asia and globally. The New York Times published a package this month on China’s rising economic and political power and reach, including its increasing engagement on global issues. Jim Yardley, The Times’s Europe editor and Pulitzer Prize winning former Beijing correspondent, and Peter Goodman, who also spent years covering China and is now a global economics correspondent, will discuss China’s opening up and increasing global engagement with LSE Professor Jin Keyu, a leading macroeconomist and Chinese economy expert.

The panel will explore China’s growing ability to redraw the terms of trade, diplomacy and security, challenging the liberal democratic order. They will also discuss the relationship between President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump leading up to the G20 Summit, and China’s refusing to defer to an American-dominated world order.

Managing heterogeneity in Europe: does one size fit all?

Tuesday 20 November, 7.00pm | Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE

Speaker: Thomas Wieser, former President of the Economic and Financial Committee and of the Eurogroup Working Group.
Chair: Erik Berglof, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs and Professor in Practice, Department of Economics, LSE.

Hosted by the European Institute and the Institute of Global Affairs

Monetary Policy, Economic Integration and the “New Normal”

Thursday 1 November 2018 | Tirana, Albania

Annual Conference of the Bank of Albania, co-organised with the London School of Economics and Political Science.

This event is by invitation, for further details please contact us: iga@lse.ac.uk

Conference overview

Harold James | Deconstructing Deglobalization

Thursday 25 October, 6.30pm | Shaw Library, Old Building

Are the US and the UK at the forefront of a push against the world of multilateralism – or managed globalization – that they created in the mid-twentieth century? How realistic is the prospect of deglobalization as a consequence of trade wars, and restrictions on movement of people and capital? Globalization depended on a complex system of regulating cross-border flows, and on the embedding of domestic rules in an international order. Is there a pendulum swing against globalization? The doctrine associated with the German interwar political and legal thinker, Carl Schmitt, and sometimes termed “decisionism” well describes the mentality of response to the long-term aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. The primary interest of the political process now lies in who can make decisions. Politics is measured and defined by decisions, and not processes.

Making the Global Financial System Work for All

Saturday 13 October, 8.30am | WESTIN-BICC Hibiscus/Frangipani Rooms, Bali

The G20 EPG Report on Global Financial Governance: Findings & Implementation

Seminar organized jointly by the LSE, CGD and RBWC.

This event is by invitation, for further details please contact us: iga@lse.ac.uk

Hard Truths An exhibition of prize-winning photography from The New York Times

Monday 01 October 2018 10:00am to Friday 26 October 2018 8:00pm | Atrium Gallery, Old Building, LSE

LSE’s Institute of Global Affairs is delighted to host 'Hard Truths', an exhibition of prize-winning photography from The New York Times.

The exhibit showcases the work of five outstanding New York Times photojournalists, who have taken great risks capturing events and their effects on people around the world. The photographs bear witness to humanitarian crises, conflicts and transitions from Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, the Philippines, Cuba and Iran, while uncovering the human stories at heart.

'Hard Truths' has been co-curated by David Furst of The New York Times and Arthur Ollman from the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography.

Event series to be hosted with The New York Times alongside the exhibition:

Hard Truths: Global Extremism | Wednesday 10 October, 6.30pm | Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE

Hard Truths: Democracy and Disinformation | Thursday 11 October, 6.30pm | Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE

Hard Truths: The art of peace-making in the 21st century conflict environment | Wednesday 17 October, 6.30 pm | Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE

Hard Truths: Dictatorships | Thursday 18 October, 6.30pm | Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE

Hard Truths: Global Leadership Challenges | Tuesday 23 October, 6.45pm | Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE

Hard Truths: Global Migration | Wednesday 24 October, 6.30pm | Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE

Peter Sutherland Memorial Lecture
Is a Rules Based, Open, Globalisation Still Worth Fighting For?

Monday 8 October, 2.30pm | Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE

Speaker: Pascal Lamy, Former Director-General of the World Trade Organization
Chair: Minouche Shafik, LSE Director

Hosted by the London School of Economics and the University College Dublin. Supported by the LSE’s European Institute and Institute of Global Affairs.

UPDATE: Tickets for this event have now sold out, find out more.

Nigeria's Poverty: a ticking global time bomb

19 September, 6.30pm | TW1 G.01

Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, yet has consistently failed to translate it resource wealth into rising living standards. "Not enough is being done" to end the reality of extreme poverty and meet the United Nations Sustainable Development goals for 2030. This impending failure will, according to Professor Kingsley Moghalu, have far devastating consequences, not only for Nigeria, but for the rest of the world.

Kingsley Moghalu is a political economist, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a lawyer and a former Director of the United Nations. Professor Moghalu is a candidate for the February 2019 Presidential Elections in Nigeria.

"The Ukrainian Night": book presentation and panel discussion

18 September, 6:30pm | TW1 G.01

What is worth dying for? While the world watched the uprising on the Maidan as an episode in geopolitics, those in Ukraine during the extraordinary winter of 2013–14 lived the revolution as an existential transformation: the blurring of night and day, the loss of a sense of time, the sudden disappearance of fear, the imperative to make choices.

In this lyrical and intimate book, Marci Shore evokes the human face of the Ukrainian Revolution. Grounded in the true stories of activists and soldiers, parents and children, Shore’s book blends a narrative of suspenseful choices with a historian’s reflections on what revolution is and what it means. She gently sets her portraits of individual revolutionaries against the past as they understand it - and the future as they hope to make it. In so doing, she provides a lesson about human solidarity in a world, our world, where the boundary between reality and fiction is ever more effaced.

This is a book presentation followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A.

Speakers:

Marci Shore, author, Associate Professor of History, Yale University.

Marina Pesenti, Director, Ukrainian Institute London.

Moderated by Peter Pomerantsev, LSE IGA Visiting Senior Fellow.

Is this the New Normal? LSE-IGA Arena democracy doubleheader

"Reintegrating Europe"

13th June, 6:30pm | Vera Anstey, Old Building, LSE

Ivan Krastev (Centre for Liberal Strategies) and Sergei Guriev (EBRD) in conversation with LSE IGA's Anne Applebaum on: Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the future of liberal democracy.

In his latest book, "After Europe", renowned public intellectual Ivan Krastev reflects on the future of the European Union—and its potential lack of a future. With far-right nationalist parties on the rise across the continent and the United Kingdom planning for Brexit, the European Union is in disarray and plagued by doubts as never before. Krastev includes chapters devoted to Europe's major problems (especially the political destabilization sparked by the more than 1.3 million migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia), the spread of right-wing populism (taking into account the election of Donald Trump in the United States), and the thorny issues facing member states on the eastern flank of the EU (including the threat posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia). He concludes by reflecting on the ominous political, economic, and geopolitical future that would await the continent if the Union itself begins to disintegrate.

Is this the New Normal? LSE-IGA Arena democracy doubleheader

"Recreating the public sphere"

6th June, 6:30pm | Vera Anstey, Old Building, LSE

Yascha Mounk (Center for European Studies, Harvard University) and Sophie Gaston (Demos) in conversation with LSE IGA's Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev on: polarisation, democratic decline, the disintegration of the public sphere - and what we should do about it.

The evening will kick off with an overview of Yascha Mounk's new book, The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It, in which he addresses the dwindling trust in politics. Citizens are falling out of love with their political system. Democracy is wilting away. Drawing on vivid stories and original research, Mounk identifies three key drivers of voters’ discontent: stagnating living standards, fears of multiethnic democracy, and the rise of social media. People vs. Democracy is the first book to go beyond a mere description of the rise of populism. In plain language, it describes both how we got here and where we need to go. For those unwilling to give up on either individual rights or the popular will, Mounk shows, there is little time to waste: this may be our last chance to save democracy.

Siracusa III - 5th ALUM Research Conference on Migration

OVERTURN STORIES: how Europe can create good practice of migrants' inclusion

21st May - 23rd May | Ortygia Business School, Siracusa, Italy

This event is by invitation only, for further details please contact us

Overprincipled and underperforming: The Global Compact for Migration and the challenge to multilateralism

Thursday 17th May, 6:30pm | ALUMNI Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

In the lead to the current UN intergovernmental negotiations for a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), Professor Gibril Faal, LSE IGA Professor in Practice, published a paper entitled 'Overprincipled and underperforming' . At this lecture, he used the GCM negotiations to illustrate the need for a practice-based approach to multilateral agreements, at a time when multilateralism itself seem to be under attack. He situates the discourse in the context of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, and proposes an 'Agreement-Implementation Matrix' as framework to move from policy to practice.

For more information, click here

Edge of Chaos: why democracy is failing to deliver economic growth - and how to fix it

Thursday 3rd May, 6:30pm | Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

In Dambisa Moyo's new book, Edge of Chaos, 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 shifts, gapping income inequality, an unsustainable debt burden, natural resource scarcity and declining productivity) and deliver more economic growth and prosperity.

Mind the Middle Income Trap!

Thursday 26th April, 6:30pm | 2.02, Clement House, LSE

Event co-hosted by the LSE Institute of Global Affairs, LSE Latin America and Caribbean Centre, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

The emerging world is facing the massive dual challenge of transforming itself into advanced economies in a sustainable way and adjusting to technological change and the increasingly binding environmental and social constraints. Academic work has been underway in a joint policy research initiative titled "Avoiding the Middle Income Trap".

This public event presented new research results in the areas of regional patterns of reform; risks of reform reversals, and global investment and their local enablers at the regional and city level and financing channels.

Panel:

Dr Andrew Powell, Principal Advisor in the Research Department, IDB
Professor Gareth Jones, Director of the Latin America and Caribbean Centre, LSE
Dr Ralph de Haas, Director of Research, EBRD
Professor Erik Berglof, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs, LSE (chair).

For more information, click here.

2018 LSE SU North Korea Forum: Before he presses the button

(On the afternoon of the event we will be hosting a workshop under the same theme and attendance will be by invitation only. For further details on the workshop please contact us: iga@lse.ac.uk)

Saturday 24th March | Old Theatre, LSE

Concerned about the issues surrounding North Korea that are threatening the stability of the global community, the LSE SU Korea Future Forum, China Development Society and Japan Society, with support from the LSE Institute of Global Affairs (IGA), came together to hold the 2018 LSE SU North Korea Forum: Before He Presses the Button.

The forum uncovered diverse issues relevant to North Korea by tackling not only internal matters, such as the sprouting market economy, humanitarian crimes and social structures in North Korea, but also external matters including nuclear crisis, security dynamics, sanctions and negotiations, cooperation and unification.

The Forum was unique in two aspects. Firstly, top academics and government officials from South Korea, China and Japan were invited to explicate each country’s stance on a wide range of North Korea issues. Secondly, the Forum was the world’s most premier conference devoted to North Korea issues.

16 world-class experts participated, such as the Former 1st Class Agent of North Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Founding Member of the British Embassy in Pyongyang, Former Special Envoy for Six Party Talks, and Founding Member of the U.S. National Committee on North Korea, to name a few.

Programme

Innovations in Global Financial Governance & the Role of Emerging Economies

Tuesday 20th March | Banco Hipotecario, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The London School of Economics and Political Science's Institute of Global Affairs, its constituent Latin America and Caribbean Centre, and the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee will co-host a conference on "Innovations in Global Financial Governance & the Role of Emerging Economies". Hosted by Banco Hipotecario.

Keynote speech: Federico Sturzenegger, Governor, Central Bank of Argentina

Speakers include: Marcello Estevão, Manuel Ramos-Francia, Luiz Pereira, Guillermo Ortiz, Daniel Funes de Rioja, Paul Samson, Isabelle Mateos y Lagos, Mario I. Blejer, Alexandre Tombini, Erik Berglöf, Gareth Jones, Reza Moghadam

Session 1: Innovations in global financial architecture

Session 2: Capital flow management

Sessio 3: Private sector in global governance and development/infrastructure finance

Session 4: Political economy of governance reform

Synopsis

This event is by invitation, for further details please contact us: iga@lse.ac.uk

Italian Forum 2018 - Strangers No Longer: An Italian Perspective on Migration in Europe

Wednesday 14th March, 18:30-20:30hrs | 4.02, Clement House, LSE
Thursday 15th March, 18:30-20:30hrs | 2.04, Tower 2, LSE

As the world is engulfed by growing waves of nationalism, the question of migration is becoming increasingly salient, at a national, international and global level. Undeniably, Italy’s geographical position translates in it being an entry and further path to Europe. The Italian Forum will analyse origins, challenges and potential solutions to the ever-growing phenomenon of migration. Held at LSE, in a conference spanning two evenings, through the interaction of high-profile speakers including civil society, academia, public and private sector, the LSE Italian Society aims to shed light on the issue of migration in Europe, and the way in which this multi-faceted notion can be better understood and captured in the public debate.

Panel I - Geopolitics and Migration Flows in the Mediterranean.

Panel II - Fostering Integration: Opportunities and Challenges of Migration.

The Italian Forum is free and open to all but registration is required for both panels.

This event is funded by the regular giving programme..

Revising Modernisms in the Gulf Region, mini-symposium with Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi

Revising Moderenisms in the Gulf Region: Mini-symposium with Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi

Tuesday 13th March | 16:30-20:00hrs

Venue: Bridewell Hall, St Bride Foundation, St Bride's Passage, London, EC4Y 8EJ.

Tickets: Eventbrite

During his residency at Delfina Foundation, collector Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi uses Ala Younis’s current exhibition at Delfina as a starting point to discuss current research and practice around Modernisms in art, architecture and urban space.

Taking Younis's exploration of the history of a gymnasium in Baghdad, designed by Le Corbusier and named after Saddam Hussein, this mini-symposium brings together leading scholars and architects to discuss the history and future of modern architecture in Iraq and the wider Gulf Region.

This is an event co-hosted by the Delfina Foundation and the LSE's Institute of Global Affairs.

Guest are welcome to attend either or both parts of the symposium. Please book tickets accordingly.

LSE SU Emerging Markets Forum 2018

Friday 9th and Saturday 10th March 2018 | De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, London

"The World's Largest Student Conference on Emerging Markets"

Founded in 2009, the LSE SU Emerging Markets Forum was created with a vision of expanding student's understanding of the emerging markets' strengthening role in our world. By bringing together leading academics, executives, investors and representatives of governments and NGOs from the developed and developing world for an open and thorough discussion, we hoped to expand the understanding of emerging markets, build a lasting body of knowledge and provide practical insights that complement academic curiosity.

By gathering some of the most capable change makers with the brightest and best university students and professionals, this two-day long conference drove a critical discussion on the most relevant, timely and pressing global issues and phenomena that drive emerging markets.

Seizing the Momentum - Fighting Populism in Europe

How to put an end to authoritarianism in EU members?

Friday 23rd February | Vera Antsey Room, Old Building, LSE

Panel discussion with András Fekete-Győr, the leader of the opposition movement Momentum (Mozgalom) in Hungary, and LSE IGA Professor in Practice, Anne Applebaum. Chaired by LSE IGA Visiting Fellow, Oksana Antonenko.

For more information, click here.

Democracy, Disinformation- and what comes next: Arena Launch

Digital Currencies with Yves Mersch

Thursday 8 February 2018, 10:30am | First Floor, The Long Room, 29 Lincoln's Inn Fields London, WC2A 3EE

OMFIF and the London School of Economics & Political Science hosted Yves Mersch for a lecture that focused on central banks, digital currencies and the development of private cryptocurrencies.

Time: 10:30-11:00 Registration and refreshments; 11:00-12:00 Lecture with moderated Q&A

Wednesday, 7th February 2018 | Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE

Anne Applebaum, Professor in Practice at the Institute of Global Affairs, introduced LSE Arena, a new initiative which analyses the root causes of distorted information, polarisation and hate speech and creates the counter-response.

This discussion brought together parliamentarians, technologists and journalists to explain the multi-faceted threat disinformation poses to democracy and outlined Arena’s strategy for building a practical response.

For further information, please click here.

LSE SU China Development Forum 2018 – China’s Perspectives Redefined

Saturday, 3rd February 2018 | Old Theatre, LSE

Welcoming its 10-year anniversary, the 2018 Forum aimed to inspire a series of intellectually-stimulating discussions revolving around how China will reshape her future as it ventures into a new world order. With a view to providing in-depth analyses and answers to the challenges facing China in the new era, the LSE Institute of Global Affairs and the LSE SU China Development Society brought together world-renowned speakers to join the debate and share their invaluable insights across a range of topics at the 2018 CDF.

For further information, please click here.

Liberalisation and Financial Resilience in a Global Context

Joint Tsinghua University-LSE workshop

Wednesday 13 December | Tsinghua University, Beijing

This workshop discussed distortions and the two-sector nature of the Chinese economy;financial liberalisation under such circumstances; and China’s growing engagement in globalfinancial governance – “Global China”.

The event was the initial meeting under a grant of the UK Economic and Social Research Council(ESRC) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and co-organised by Tsinghua University and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). It brought together academics from lead Chinese universities and LSE, central bank officials, policymakers and business practitioners.

LSE IGA Director, Erik Berglof and Programme Director, Piroska Nagy Mohacsi took part in this event.

Protests and Political Opposition in Russia and the Screening of the documentary film Nemtsov

Thursday 30 November 2017, 6:00pm | CLM 2.02, Clement House

Speakers: Vladimir Kara-Murza; Prof. Richard Sakwa; Prof. Tomila Lankina; Vladimir Ashurkov

Chair: Oksana Antonenko

As Russia approaches its Presidential election in March 2018, a wave of protests and political mobilisation has shone a new light on the state of Russia’s political opposition. Russian opposition activists have experienced a particularly difficult period since the crack down on the last mass protests in 2012 and the introduction of new laws, which have severely limited opportunities for a free expression and association. Many NGOs were branded “foreign agents”, while the Russian state has control over the media and even the internet. Yet a new generation of Russians are defying protest bans to express their stand against corruption and the lack of genuine political competition. With the latest opinion polls indicating that Russians are increasingly looking for change in their lives and a new generation of activists forming across many Russian regions, can the 2018 elections open a new window of opportunity for Russia’s democratic opposition? This event will analyse the evolution of protests movements in Russia, relations between opposition and the state and the prospects for a more open political system in Russia in the future. The panel discussion will be followed by the screening of Nemtsov, a documentary film about the late leader of the Russian opposition, which was directed by his friend and colleague Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Vladimir Kara-Murza is the vice chairman of “Open Russia”, and director of the documentary film Nemtsov

Prof. Richard Sakwa, University of Kent, is author of The Crisis of Russian Democracy: The Dual State, Factionalism and the Medvedev Succession

Prof. Tomila Lankina is Professor of International Relations at the LSE’s International Relations Department

Vladimir Ashurkov is Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation and associate of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

The film is in Russian, with English subtitles. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Universities Responding to the Refugee Crisis

The Alliance of Leading Universities on Migration (ALUM) held its 4th conference on November 6-7 2017 in Beirut, Lebanon, hosted by the American University of Beirut (AUB) – Issam Fares Institute, on the theme Universities Responding to the Refugee Crisis. The Conference brought together lead researchers, and policy makers from the ALUM network that spreads across Europe, the Middle East region, and the Americas. The findings and recommendations will be announced in the “Beirut Declaration”.

Download the agenda

The Conference covered the following themes in the form of session and roundtable discussions:

Political and institutional constraints to migration - the political economy and governance of migration and refugees crisis;
Migration, displacement, and public perception – can we rebalance and change the migration narrative?;
Return migration and vulnerable groups – the role of international community, development policy and federal and local level government interventions;
Advocacy, policy and research impact - how can universities and research-based activism be strengthened to better inform and support policy interventions?;
Health and nutrition for migrants and refugees;
Education – how to avoid a “lost generation” without education? Looking further, should universities support education to people on the move (internally and ultimately globally)?;
Private sector engagement globally and locally – what are the main impediments to job sustained creation for refugees and what role for public-private partnerships?;

ALUM drafted a short statement on how best academics can support evidence-based and politically feasible policy-making and the most pressing current issues in migration and refugee crisis at the time of increased anti-globalization and anti-migration sentiment in important parts of the world.

Obstacles to Peacebuilding - The Economics of Post-War Foreign Intervention

Wednesday 25 October 2017, 6:30pm | TW2 9.04, Tower 2

Research and policy to date have focused on the security, political and social aspects of the war-to-peace transition. Graciana Del Castillo’s new book, which she discussed in this talk, focuses on “economic transition” and “the political economy” of peace, which is a much-neglected aspect of peacebuilding.

Graciana del Castillo is senior fellow at the Ralph Bunche Institute and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. With a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University, she was senior research scholar, associate director of the Center for Capitalism & Society and adjunct professor there for many years. Dr. del Castillo designed the Salvadoran arms-for-land program, which USG Marrack Goulding credited for bringing the peace process back on track, played a key role in jumpstarting the Kosovo economy, devised the concept of ‘reconstruction zones,’ and with different hats advised on peacebuilding strategies for Afghanistan, Liberia, Haiti, Syria, and Colombia.

Read the latest entry on the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa blog, in which Graciana del Castillo discusses the importance of economic reconstruction in the war-to-peace transition.

Three Tigers, One Mountain: China, Japan and the US in the Pacific Century

Thursday 19 October 2017, 6:30pm | TW1 G.01

For more than half a century, American power in the Pacific has successfully kept the peace. But it has also cemented the tensions in the toxic rivalry between China and Japan, consumed with endless history wars and entrenched political dynasties. Today, the combination of these forces, together with Donald Trump's unpredictable impulses and disdain for America's old alliances, threatens to upend the region and accelerate the unravelling of the postwar order. If the United States helped lay the postwar foundations for modern Asia, now the anchor of the global economy, Richard McGregor spoke how that structure is now crumbling, something he has chronicled in his new book, Asia's Reckoning.

Red Famine: Stalin's war on Ukraine, and why it still matters

Wednesday 04 October 2017, 6:30pm | Old Theatre, Old Building

In 1932-33, nearly four million Ukrainians died of starvation, having been deliberately deprived of food. Professor in practice Anne Applebaum will explore how and why this happened, and explain its lasting importance.

The Maidan Revolution – Lessons Learned and Unlearned

From Water Wars to Cooperation in the Middle East

The Institute of Global Affairs and the Grantham Research Institute hosted a joint seminar on September 20 with a talk by Professor Uri Shani of Hebrew University and former head of the Israeli water authority on the subject From Water Wars to Cooperation in the Middle East.

The Uncertain Future of Global Economic Integration

IGA Director Professor Erik Berglof, Visiting Professor Mario Blejer, and Programme Director Piroska Nagy-Mohacsi participated in a high-level conference on The Uncertain Future of Global Economic Integration, in Reykjavik, Iceland, organised by the Central Bank of Iceland on September 14-15, 2017.

Islamism

Monday 22 May 2017 6:30pm | Wolfson Theatre, NAB

A political, social, and cultural battle is raging in the Middle East. On one side are the Islamists, those who believe Islam should be the region’s primary identity. In opposition are nationalists, secularists, royal families, military establishments, and others who view Islamism as a serious threat to national security, historical identity, and a cohesive society.

In his latest book Islamism, Tarek Osman explores the development of the largest and most influential Islamic groups in the Middle East over the past century. Why has political Islam managed to win successive elections and how have Islamist groups in various nations responded after ascending to power? Osman dissects the alliances that have formed among Islamist factions and against them, addressing the important issues of Islamism’s compatibility with modernity, with the region’s experiences in the twentieth century, and its impact on social contracts and minorities. He explains what Salafism means, its evolution, and connections to jihadist groups in the Middle East. In a thought-provoking conclusion, Osman discusses the Islamists’ prospects for the future and what that will mean for the region and the rest of the world.

Tarek Osman (@TarekmOsman) is the EBRD’s Senior Political Counsellor for Arab world and Turkey.

Erik Berglof (@ErikBerglof) is Director of the Institute of Global Affairs at LSE.

North Korea: Beyond the Headlines

Saturday, 18th March 2017 | LSE

The IGA, in collaboration with the LSE SU Korea Future Forum and the LSE SU China Development Society, and supported by the Doosan Group, Embassy of the Republic of Korea and LSE SU Korean Society is hosting an all-day conference, "North Korea: Beyond the Headlines", at LSE on Saturday, 18th March 2017. The conference will provide a platform for detailed discussions on various aspects of North Korea, from North Korean society to the prospects for, and challenges of, Korean unification.

North Korea is one of the most secretive and isolated countries in the world. Little is understood of the state beyond reports of its humanitarian crises and speculation over its nuclear programme development.

Monday 20 February 2017, 5:00PM | Wolfson Theatre, LSE

The overthrow of the Yanukovich government through a popular rebellion energised Ukrainian civil society and created expectations that have been hard to live up to. The Russian occupation of Crimea and support of separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions have amplified the political and economic challenges, but the revolutionary fervour still lives on in large parts of Ukrainian society – sometimes propelling further reforms, but sometimes also undermining political consensus and leading to political overreach.

Speakers: Anne Applebaum, Olena Bilan, Mustapha Nayeem, Vladimir Rashkovan, Erik Berglof

This event forms part of the LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2017, taking place from Monday 20 - Saturday 25 February 2017, with the theme "Revolutions".

Urbanisation in China – Patterns and Governance

Wednesday 22 February 2017, 6:30PM

China’s urban population is growing every year by 20 million - roughly a city the size of London and Paris combined together. This has gone together with a breathless expansion of the area covered by towns and cities.

Chinese urbanisation take on particular forms because of two particular institutions: the household registration system (hukou), and public ownership of land. A distinctive feature of the governance of Chinese towns and cities is the nationwide network of grass-roots autonomous organisations to manage and run the daily life of urban communities.

Speakers: Stephan Feuchtwang, Athar Hussain, Jude Howell, Fulong Wu

LSESU China Development Forum 2017 – A Nation at the Crossroads

Saturday, 11th February 2017 | New Academic Building, LSE

For three decades China has grown miraculously, lifting millions out of poverty and elevating parts of the country to standards comparable with the world’s most advanced nations. However, as China’s economy slows, and as underlying structural issues continue to surface, observers both within and outside China increasingly question the so-called ‘China Model’. Standing at the crossroads, China now faces critical choices. The LSESU China Development Forum 2017, co-hosted by the Institute of Global Affairs and the LSESU China Development Society, will bring together more than 25 world-renowned speakers to debate and share their invaluable insights on these issues.

Watch the promotional video

Speakers include: Vince Cable, Cindy Fan, Zhou Hanmin, Jude Howell, Jia Kang, Zou Ming, Adair Turner, Gudrun Wacker

The Future of Europe

Speaker(s): Paolo Gentiloni
Chair: Professor Julia Black

Recorded on 9 February 2017 at Shaw Library, Old Building.

The Great Convergence: information technology and the new globalisation

Thursday 24 November 2016, 18.30 | Wolfson Theatre

Globalisation is now driven by fast-paced technological change and the fragmentation of production. Its impact is more sudden, more selective, more unpredictable, and more uncontrollable. As Richard Baldwin, Director of the Centre for Economic Policy Research,shows inThe Great Convergence, the new globalisation presents rich and developing nations alike with unprecedented policy challenges in their efforts to maintain reliable growth and social cohesion.

Refugees and Economic Migrants: facts, policies and challenges

Wednesday 16 November 2016, 18.30 | CLM 402

The refugee crisis in Europe, the campaign that led to the (Br)exit of the UK from the European Union, and the ongoing presidential race in the US are just three major examples of the role played by migration in the current political and media debate. The debate is often harsh and polarized. It oscillates from calls for more openness of borders to promises of building new fences, contrasting the opposite views of those who emphasize the advantages and benefits from migration flows and those who instead consider migrants an unnecessary strain imposed on receiving societies.

Important empirical and theoretical results have been produced in many areas, from the impact on receiving societies to the process of conceiving and implementing migration policies. These findings still need to be fully disseminated among policy-makers and the general public. Written by some of the best scholars in the field, this eBook offers a brief summary of what economists have learnt about migration in several crucial area of policy making and points at all the important questions that still remain to be answered.

Rich People Poor Countries: the rise of emerging market tycoons and their mega-firms

Roger Nord, Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund’s African Department, will deliver a lecture on November 8, 18:30 pm at LSE on Africa’s growth challenges. Starting in the mid-1990s, an increasing number of countries in Africa have been experiencing robust and sustained economic growth. But with the collapse of commodity prices, these gains have been called into question. Is this a rough patch or the end of Africa Rising? What role are new partners such as China and India playing? How to reap the full benefits of natural resource wealth? How to address large infrastructure gaps? And looking further ahead: how to ensure that the demographic dividend is a blessing not a curse?

Download the programme

25 October 2016, 18.30 | Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

In her book, Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging-Market Tycoons and Their Mega Firms, Caroline Freund, former Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, has identified and analyzed nearly 700 emerging-market billionaires whose net worth adds up to more than $2 trillion. Freund finds that these titans of industry are propelling poor countries out of their small scale production and agricultural past and into a future of multinational industry and service-based mega firms.

Displacement, Development, and Climate Change: International Organizations Moving Beyond their Mandates

Monday 24th October 2016, 18.30 | TW1 G.01, LSE

Dr Nina Hall delivered a lecture to a large audience on October 24, drawing on her book, Displacement, Development, and Climate Change: International Organizations Moving Beyond their Mandates. Hall examined the responses of the UNHCR, UNDP and IOM- all three established in a post-war time period- to identify changes in their organisational rhetoric, policy, structure, operations and overall mandate to address one specific new challenge: climate change. Hall’s key finding is that in the last fifteen years these three organisations have moved beyond their original mandates and are assisting people in developing countries affected by climate change even though their member states did not specifically delegate this task. The key driver for change was their staff, the international civil servants. The discussant was Dr Robert Falkner, Associate Professor of International Relations at LSE; the lecture was chaired by Professor Erik Berglof, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs and himself a former high ranking international civil servant.

In Search of Truth in the Long Shadows of National Socialism

Thursday 13th October 2016, 18.30 | CLM 3.02, LSE

During a 6-year intensive investigation Brazilian-born Julie Catterson Lindahl discovered her family’s role in National Socialism and the SS. Her journey of discovery has taken her to Germany, Poland and Latin America, the place of her birth. The focus of her work has been to understand the process of radicalization, and the reverberations of war and violence on the generations that followed. In this lecture Lindahl focuses on the truth about the past she uncovered, what led her to uncover it and what the relevance of this story is for the times we live in.

Rethinking Global Finance Initiative:
Strengthening the Research and Policy Voice of Emerging Markets

Thursday 30 June 2016,13:30-15:30 | St Petersburg

This was the third event of the Rethinking the Global Finance Initiative, after previous ones in Mumbai and Shanghai. The Initiative’s launch in Russia wwasopened by the Governor of the Bank of Russia Mme Elvira Nabiullina, in the presence of high level representatives of other emerging market central banks and renowned academics.

What future for work?

Monday 20 June 2016, 18.30 | NAB 2.04, LSE

Speaker: Stefano Scarpetta, OECD Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs.

Migration – the Ins and Outs

Monday 20 June 2016 | LSE Campus

Speakers: Peter Sutherland, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for International Migration, and LSE researchers Ruben Andersson and Dominik Hangartner.

UN - to be fit for purpose

Thursday 2 June 2016, 2pm | Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE

Speaker: Dr Igor Lukšić. Chair: Professor Erik Berglof

Rethinking the Global Monetary System

Tuesday 10 May 2016, 10am | Old Theatre, Old Building

Speaker: Dr Raghuram Rajan. Chair: Professor Erik Berglof

Global Migration Initiative 2016 Simulation: From migration crisis to migration governance

Browse storify

LSE Institute of Global Affairs, 6th and 7th May 2016.

Rethinking Global Finance - The Perspective of Emerging Economies

May 5-6, 2016 | London School of Economics

Managing Migration - Solutions beyond the Nation State

18th and 19th April 2016 | Siracusa

The Global Refugee Crisis: a challenge to our common humanity

Our world continues to be challenged by conflict and consequent flows of people across the world. How can and should we respond? Director of SOAS and former Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the UN Valerie Amos gave this IGA lecture on Thursday 11 February.

Migration: Challenge of Our Generation

In this lecture on 3 December 2015, IGA Professor in Practice Peter Sutherland spoke about how we respond to the current refugee and migration challenge will shape how we are viewed when the history of our time is written and how we manage to integrate the migrants will determine our economic future.

Climate Change and Migration to Europe

At this joint event with the LSE European Institute, LSE Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, the Embassy of France in the United Kingdom, and the European Commission Representation in the UK on the 18 November 2015, Mary Robinson, UN Special Envoy for Climate Change and former President of Ireland, Alain Le Roy, Secretary General of the European External Action Service and Prof Neil Adger of the University of Exeter discussed how climate change, through its impact on economic, social and political factors which drive migration, is creating new challenges for fragile populations.

PostCapitalism: Paul Mason Lecture

We know that our world is in the process of seismic change - but how can we emerge from the crisis a fairer, more equal society? In this lecture on 18 November 2015, Paul Mason (Economics Editor, Channel 4 News) spoke about his new book PostCapitalism: A Guide to Our Future.

Russia’s Political and Economic Future with Vladimir Milov

A private discussion session that took place on November 17 on Russia’s political and economic future with Vladimir Milov, Russian opposition politician, publicist, economist & energy expert.

Former Deputy Minister of Energy of Russia (2002), Vladimir Milov is now the Chairman of the 'Democratic Choice' opposition party who has written for Forbes Russia, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist.

For The Times They Are A-Changin’: A Lecture by Ignazio Visco, Governor of the Bank of Italy

At this joint event with LSE Students' Union Italian Society on 11th November 2015, Ignazio Visco spoke about the ‘intangibles’ of economics and the increasingly important interactions between long-term trends and short-term developments.

Read the lecture

Migration - the ultimate challenge for Europe and the world: Peter Sutherland Lecture

United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration Peter Sutherland spoke at the launch of the IGA Global Migration Initiative on October 22nd 2015.

Mr Sutherland, former Director General of the WTO and European Commissioner, called for action at the European level and in the United Nations arguing the current situation was an "international disgrace for the developed world".

A Better Life - The Refugee and Migrant Crisis: Solutions between Sovereignty and Integration

This joint event with LSE Students' Union Italian Society on 5th October 2015 was a charity event to raise awareness on the migrant and refugee crisis and listen to the experiences of experts who have been on the field.

Ateendees heard from Sohrab Ahmari (Wall Street Journal), Rear Admiral Aliperta (Italian Representative to International Maritime Organisation), Pamela DeLargy, (Senior Advisor to the UN Special Representative for International Migration), Sanj Srikanthan (International Rescue Committee UK) and chair Barbara Serra (Al-Jazeera).

Maccoby on Global Leadership

This joint IGA - LSE Department of Management event on July 2nd 2015 was a panel discussion on what it takes to lead nations and global organisations today and if leadership can be taught.

Joining worldwide authority on leadership Michael Maccoby were Marc Stears (Professor of Political Theory, University College Oxford), Mari Sako (Professor of Management Studies, Saïd Business School) and chair Stefan Stern (Financial Times).

Striving for a Progressive Israel

Israel's Leader of the Opposition Issac Herzog visited LSE for an IGA lecture on June 19th 2015.