Podcasts:
The Prospects for Democratisation in Afghanistan - 12 Nov 2008
Eastern DRC: what should the international community be doing? -18 Mar 2009
PUBLIC EVENTS - ACADEMIC YEAR 2008/2009
Wednesday 6 May 2009
'The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide'
Public lecture with Linda Melvern.
Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE. 630pm.
Linda Melvern is an investigative journalist and author. A world expert on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, she was a consultant to the prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal to Rwanda in the Military 1 case.
This event is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
Tuesday 5 May 2009
'After the Party: Corruption, the ANC and South Africa's uncertain future'
Discussion and book launch with Andrew Feinstein and Michela Wrong
Chair: Jonathan DiJohn
Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building. 6.30pm
This event will chart the future of politics in South Africa and Kenya. Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP and author of the recently published After the Party, will offer an explosive post-election account of the power struggles currently dominating South African politics, and a crucial record of the ANC's record in power. Author and journalist, Michela Wrong (author of the recently published, It's Our Turn to Eat) will respond with comments based on her own research in Kenya.
This event is free and open to the public. Guests will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information about the event please contact Laura Collins on L.Collins1@lse.ac.uk . For more information about the author or the book please contact Zahra Khan on zahrak@verso.co.uk .
Wednesday 18 March 2009
'Eastern DRC: What should the international community be doing?'
Panel Debate with General Olusegun Obasanjo, Clare Short, David Leonard and James Putzel
UN Special Envoy to the Congo and former President of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo highlighted the importance of strengthening order and institutions at a panel discussion hosted by the Crisis States Research Centre last week. He called on the international community to make sufficient resources available, warning ‘if we fail, DRC may be a disaster waiting to happen’.
In front of a high-profile audience, General Obasanjo discussed international intervention in the Eastern DRC with former Secretary of State, Clare Short, Professor David Leonard of the International Development Institute and Professor James Putzel, Director of the CSRC. Broad optimism was expressed after what Clare Short called an 'important breakthrough' in January 2009 when DRC and Rwandan governments agreed to cooperate. All speakers concurred that in order to obtain peace and stability, the recently formed partnership between Kinshasa and Kigali must hold.
The debate, stemming from a controversial CSRC press release in November 2008, focused on the role of diplomacy, political relations and ethical business in addressing the complex issues that have led to over five million deaths in the Eastern Congo since 1998. Particular attention was paid to the role of Rwanda, where rebel leader Laurent Nkunda was arrested in January 2009. Whilst Clare Short emphasised that the 'fundamental fault' lay with the Security Council members, who should provide military resources to the UN peacekeeping force, MONUC, without which their financial inputs are less effective, David Leonard sought answers as to what could now make MONUC a credible deterrent to violence. Raising the importance of the creation of elite incentives to work with, as opposed to against, the state, James Putzel highlighted the importance of CSRC's work on development as state-making, fragile cities and regional conflict.
A full podcast of the event is available here:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/publicLecturesAndEvents.htm
Wednesday 12th November 2008
'The Prospects for Democratisation in Afghanistan'
Public lecture with Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Foreign Minister of Afghanistan
Listen to the podcast of this event here.