Department of Social Policy seminars

Autumn Term

All seminars will be hybrid and held in the Department meeting room- OLD 2.26. You are welcome to attend in person or via zoom.

Thursday 5 October 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Abstract: In the wake of Syrian refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Lebanon in 2016, Western donors shifted from a strictly humanitarian emergency response to forced displacement to the humanitarian-development nexus (HDN) which responds to the needs of both refugees and host populations. In this paper, I focus on loans to refugee hosting countries’ water sectors to problematise the emergence of the HDN, and donor narratives surrounding it, and explore the politics driving it, the power relations it reproduces and its impact on the societies it purports to benefit.

Historically situating the HDN within global capitalism in the Middle East, I argue that its projects extend and reproduce (Western) imperialism in the region. I understand imperialism as a set of exploitative and unequal relations between global capital and recipient states and societies. Rather than completely top-down, I highlight how HDN projects, and the imperial relations they extend, unfold at multiple interrelated scales and are negotiated in relation to various actors, including recipient states and local resistance movements. In doing so, I emphasise the imperialism embodied in development as fundamentally contradictory, subject to struggle and, thus, always incomplete.

Presenter Bio: Lama Tawakkolis Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Manchester. Her research explores capitalism and the global political economy, with particular focus on the power and politics of development aid, the social inequalities it produces and its impacts on states and marginalised populations in the Middle East.

Attend in person (OLD 2.26) or via zoom. Register to attend via zoom here.

Thursday 12 October 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Abstract: We are at a moment of growing critical self-reflection in the broad and cross-disciplinary field of Development Studies—heightened by debates on decolonisation—that is opening up difficult conversations on teaching, learning and knowledge production for Development Studies education. In this spirit, my presentation – come reflexive turn – will unpack how ‘development’ is represented and sold in postgraduate Development Studies courses at UK universities, based on a close reading of the course marketing materials and interviews with professional marketing staff within the university, academic leads on Development Studies courses and current Development Studies students. It explores some of the effects of development representations on students and their imaginations of the discipline and the university brand. I find representations of development engender a cosmopolitan desire mainly among international students and project a cosmopolitan virtue of the university through its development activities and associations. Contrary to seeing the cosmopolitan as a progressive political concept in a time of globalisation, I contend these cosmopolitan identities are imbued with the racialised legacies of colonial power. The presentation draws on work published as part of a Special Issue on Revisiting Development Studies Education in the Neoliberal University in Progress in Development Studies in 2022.

Presenter Bio: Kamna Patel is an Associate Professor of Development Studies at University College London, and until recently Principal Advisor on anti-racism with the international development NGO Christian Aid. Her current research and practice explore the relationships between race (understood as a racialised hierarchy of value) and development. This builds on three strands of research: (i) housing, land tenure and citizenship in the urban Global South, (ii) reflexive practice and postcolonial scholarship on the teaching and practice of ‘development’, and (iii) the application of a race lens to understanding and taking action for equity and justice.

Attend in person (OLD 2.26) or via zoom. Register to attend via zoom here.

Thursday 26 October 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Abstract: Given the urgency to decarbonise all aspects of human life while providing energy to all, policymakers seek to implement policies to accelerate the expansion of renewable energy generation. Currently, potential policies are often discussed concerning maximising public support at a given time while neglecting policies’ alignment with specific goals. This presentation proposes a new way to study the public acceptance of energy policies in the context of policy goals. In interdisciplinary work with energy modelling experts, we created policies aligning with specific goals. Using a novel preregistered survey experiment, we study the role of goal alignment in opinions about energy policy mixes among n = 5,655 individuals. We differentiate between people who do not support energy policies that can reach ambitious targets and those who do not wish policies to meet the targets. We show that discussing and communicating policies and policy goals jointly can increase support for ambitious policies.

Presenter Bio: Gracia Brückmann is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Political Science, University of Bern, affiliated with the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research. In Autumn 2023, they will be a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Brückmann holds a PhD from ETH Zurich. Their research deals with public acceptance of climate and energy policies and the role of experiences usually using experimental methods. Brückmann’s research findings have been published in journals such as Energy Policy, Environmental Research Letters, Journal of Cleaner Production, and PLOS Climate.

Attend in person (OLD 2.26) or via zoom. Link to register to attend via zoom will be added here in due course.

Thursday 9 November 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Abstract: Despite registering the lowest per capita emissions of any world region every year since 1960 (MIF 2022), the African continent faces the most severe impacts of climate change, with nine out of the 10 most vulnerable countries worldwide being in Africa (ND-GAIN 2020). This in turn means that climate change is expected to drastically impact agricultural productivity, increase incidence of disease, poverty and water stress, and lead to conflict. However, the global climate crisis is not ‘gender neutral’, it is intrinsically linked to poverty and impacts the lives of the world’s poorest people the most. As such, women and girls are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis due to their climate sensitive livelihoods and dependency mainly on natural resources.

This presentation examines women’s grassroots leadership and mobilisation for climate action in Malawi, where agriculture remains the largest employment sector (WB 2022) and women are the face of poverty, with 70% living below the poverty line (UNICEF 2020). It discusses opportunities and challenges in engaging in climate activism and argues that as critical agents in their families and communities, women are key to effective climate solutions (ActionAid 2022).

Presenter Bio: Aleida Borges leads the Grassroots Women Leaders research stream at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL) and is a Visiting Lecturer at the African Leadership Centre at King’s College London. Her research offers critical perspectives on grassroots politics; women’s rights, representation and participation; diaspora political participation and youth politics, with reference to the ‘Global South’ (Africa and Latin America). She has conducted fieldwork in Cabo Verde, Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe, Kenya and Malawi; regularly publishes in peer-reviewed edited collections and journals in English and Portuguese; and occasionally consults as county expert for Cabo Verde.

Attend in person (OLD 2.26) or via zoom. Link to register to attend via zoom will be added here in due course.

Thursday 16 November 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Abstract: Suppose you were given two qualitative studies: one is a piece of empirically sound social science and the other, though interesting and beautifully written, is not. How would you tell the difference? Qualitative Literacy presents criteria to assess qualitative research methods such as in-depth interviewing and participant observation. Qualitative research is indispensable to the study of inequality, poverty, education, public health, immigration, the family, and criminal justice. Each of the hundreds of ethnographic and interview studies published yearly on these issues is scientifically either sound or unsound. Our work aims to provide social scientists, researchers, students, evaluators, policymakers, and journalists with the tools needed to identify and evaluate quality in field research.

Presenter Bios:
Mario L Small is Quetelet Professor of Social Science at Columbia University. Small has published award-winning articles, edited volumes, and books on topics such as urban poverty, personal networks, and the relationship between qualitative and quantitative methods. His books include Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio; Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life; and the co-authored Qualitative Literacy: A Guide to Evaluating Ethnographic and Interview Research. Small is currently studying the relationship between networks and decision-making, the ability of large-scale data to answer critical questions about poverty, and the role of qualitative inquiry in cumulative social science.

Jessica Calarco is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research primarily uses qualitative methods to examine how systems of power and privilege perpetuate inequalities in education, health, and family decision-making. Calarco’s first book, Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in Schools, won the Pierre Bourdieu Award. Co-authored with Mario Small, her third book Qualitative Literacy helps readers to identify high-quality qualitative research, outlining a set of indicators for assessing field-based work on its own terms. As a public sociologist, Calarco has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and Inside Higher Ed.

Attend in person (OLD 2.26) or via zoom. Link to register to attend via zoom will be added here in due course.

Thursday 23 November 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Abstract: This presentation seeks to highlight the importance of designing good trade policies that take into account informal trade flows, which may allow these trade flows to be brought under the umbrella of regional trade policies. It focuses on the case study of small-scale cross-border traders in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to explore the challenges faced in the governance of informal cross-border trade (ICBT) in the region. Based on a socio-legal methodology, I use the public authority approach, which considers other types of governance beyond state-centric lenses, to analyse both public and private governance of ICBT. My presentation examines border dynamics in ICBT, including exogenous and endogenous forces and multiple layers of public authority influencing this trade. I highlight the need for trade policies that are more extensive and that can avoid the common issues hampering trade policies like the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Simplified Trade Regime (STR) and preventing small-scale cross-border traders (the majority of whom are women) from gaining access to more profitable markets.

Presenter Bio: Jonathan Bashi is a Law Lecturer at SOAS, University of London. His work and research interests focus on the correlation between international law, trade, and development. His work experience spreads across various sectors, with roles assumed in higher education, the private sector and international development. He holds a Bachelor’s in Law (LLB) from Université Protestante au Congo (Kinshasa, DRC), a Master of Laws (LLM) from Indiana University (Indianapolis, USA) and a PhD from SOAS, University of London.

Attend in person (OLD 2.26) or via zoom. Link to register to attend via zoom will be added here in due course.

Thursday 30 November 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Abstract: This talk focuses on unravelling the historic and contemporary connections among black indigenous communities in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, namely, the Garifuna in Belize, the Arawak in the Caribbean and the Nama people of Namibia. Drawing upon the work of Tuck and Wynter, the presentation explores various claims for reparations that have arisen and goes on to draw linkages between their calls for justice, methods of resistance, the engagements with the post-colonial state and relationships with other black populations. Ultimately, the talk aims to provide a more complex conceptualisation of the intersections of indigeneity and blackness and a more nuanced understanding of the weight of erasure for black indigenous populations.

Presenter Bio: Althea-Maria Rivas is a Senior Lecturer in Global Development, Conflict and Peace at SOAS, University of London. Her research explores the politics of development, violence and peace through the lens of the everyday. Much of her work specifically interrogates the racialised and gendered nature of these processes in Afghanistan, Somalia and Liberia, and among Afro-descendant and indigenous communities globally. Before pursuing an academic career, she worked for over a decade in the areas of governance, humanitarian aid, gender and development with various local and international organisations in Canada, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Attend in person (OLD 2.26) or via zoom. Link to register to attend via zoom will be added here in due course.

Thursday 7 December 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Abstract: This presentation discusses the psychological profile of the altruistic authoritarian citizen. It leverages findings from the 2023 Chinese Altruistic Values and Behaviour Survey conducted by the speakers to discuss self-perceived attributes of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ citizen, and how they interact with views on various social and economic issues such as regulation, income inequality, volunteerism and charity giving. The presentation also explores the sources of information authoritarian citizens utilise to (re-)affirm their self-perception of the altruistic individual.

Presenter Bios:
Reza Hasmath is Professor in Political Science at the University of Alberta. He has previously held faculty positions in management, sociology and political science at the universities of Toronto, Melbourne and Oxford, and has worked for think-tanks, consultancies, development agencies and NGOs in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and China. His award-winning research looks at evolving state-society relationships in authoritarian contexts.

Timothy Hildebrandt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and editor of The China Quarterly. A political scientist by training, his China-related research examines NGO development as well as the construction and performance of citizenship in the country.

Attend in person (OLD 2.26) or via zoom. Link to register to attend via zoom will be added here in due course.

Catch up on our 2022/23 seminar series via our YouTube channel here.

30 March 2023

Social and academic embeddedness as buffers against school closure effects on schooling outcomes

Speaker: Professor Herman van de Werfhorst, European University Institute

Autumn Term

Thursday 5 October 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Thursday 12 October 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Thursday 26 October 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Thursday 9 November 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Thursday 16 November 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Thursday 23 November 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Thursday 30 November 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Thursday 7 December 2023, 1.00pm-2.30pm

2019/20

2018/19

2017/18

Behavioural Public Policy Seminars LSE Hayek Programme - Department of Social Policy Joint BPP seminar series

EPG online series

CASE Seminars Social Exclusion Seminars and the Welfare Policy and Analysis Seminars

Mannheim Centre for Criminology Seminars