Demos Greenhouse

Local Party Politics: An Agenda for Change

Thu, 15 May 2008 18:01:04 -0100

Sir Robin Wales - Elected mayor of Newham
Scott Wright - De Montfort University
Elizabeth Wheeler - Goldsmith's College
Professor Jo Silvester - Goldsmith's College
Dr Colin Copus - Birmingham University
Professor Steve Leach - De Montford University

Demos will host the fifth seminar in an ESCR-funded series on The Future of Political Parties in Local Government. , in partnership with The Institute of Local Government Studies, at Birmingham University, De Montfort University, The Electoral Reform Society, and the Local Government Information Unit.

The day-long event will consist of a series of speaker presentations on the theme of local government, followed by a discussion session.

To RSVP, please email Janet Plowman at j.a.plowman@bham.ac.uk.

Fixing Failed States

Wed, 14 May 2008 15:17:31 -0100

Clare Lockhart - Director of the Institute for State Effectiveness
Ashraf Ghani - former Finance Minister of Afghanistan
(Respondents TBC)

Clare Lockhart and Ashraf Ghani will be speaking at Demos about their new book, Fixing Failed States.

‘Failed States’ – the home of the world’s so-called Bottom Billion – are largely beyond the help of traditional aid and development. Leadership is corrupt, social institutions are virtually non-existent; aid money disappears before it can be used; ethnic conflict, absolute poverty, terrorism, and trafficking hold sway. International approaches to date - whether humanitarian, aid or military, have rarely proven successful.

Fixing Failed States presents a framework which rebuilds from the ground up, putting finances, democratic accountability, and know-how into the hands of those who are most motivated to make it work – ordinary citizens.

The event takes place as DFID runs a public consultation on the future direction of the department's programme in Afghanistan. The discussion will focus on previous examples of state building, the UK's role in Afghanistan, the international community's approach to failing states and the challenges of building capacity and democratic accountability from the ground up.

This event is by invitation only. For more information about the event, or to request an invitation, please contact charlie.edwards@demos.co.uk.

Please click here for more information about the book.

The Cultural Age

Wed, 07 May 2008 16:42:50 -0100

Speakers TBC

A second seminar on culture, integration and education, hosted by Demos in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Culture is a space in which values are expressed and interpreted. It can provide a safe space and mechanism to confront difference, but it can also be a space in which values are contested. Online and in the streets, we encounter a more diverse range of cultures than ever before. This is the 'cultural age' - how can we approach and accommodate it?

The second seminar on the cultural age will address how cultural practitioners and academic thinkers can work with policy-makers to meet the challenges that arise in an intercultural world. It will involve speaker presentations and a debate on how to make the best of the opportunities for integration that the cultural age has to offer.

This event is by invitation only. If you would like to attend the event, please contact seminars@demos.co.uk.

The Cultural Age

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:52:13 -0100

Paul Roberts - (Chair) Creative and Cultural Education Board
Linda Woodhead - Director, AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme
Angharad Wynne-Jones - Director, London International Festival of Theatre

The first of two seminars on culture, integration and education hosted by Demos in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Culture is a space in which values are expressed and interpreted. It can provide a safe space and mechanism to confront difference, but it can also be a space in which values are contested. Online and in the streets, we encounter a more diverse range of cultures than ever before. This is the 'cultural age' - how can we approach and accommodate it?

This first seminar explores the relationship between the cultural age and education. It will ask how cultural practitioners, institutions, policy-makers and the education sector work together to provide young people with the skills they need to interpret the new and different cultures that they increasingly encounter.

This event is by invitation only. If you would like to attend the event, please contact seminars@demos.co.uk.

UK Confidential

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:49:11 -0100

Peter Bazalgette, former Chairman of Endemol UK
Catherine Fieschi, Director, Demos
Perri 6, Professor of Social Policy – Nottingham Trent University
Zoe Williams, Guardian columnist

Launch of a new Demos pamphlet exploring the underlying challenges of privacy in an open and networked society.

Social transformation, increasing surveillance and rapid technological innovation are redrawing the boundaries between the personal and the public. In an attempt to rediscover the social value of privacy, Demos' UK Confidential collection argues that we need to collectively negotiate a new settlement between the individual and society; the public and the state; and the consumer and business.

Please RSVP to Michael Harvey at michael.harvey@demos.co.uk or call 0207 367 4200. Please note that spaces are limited.

The Talking Cure

jack.stilgoe@demos.co.uk ( Jack Stilgoe ) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:25:05 -0100

Dr. Howard Stoates MP – Member of Health Select Commitee & GP
Richard Horton – Editor, The Lancet
Colette Goldrick – Director of External Affairs, Pfizer UK
Douglas Smallwood – Chief Executive, Diabetes UK
Jack Stilgoe – Senior Researcher, Demos
Catherine Fieschi – Director, Demos (chair)

Launch of a new Demos pamphlet and a discussion on the future of medicine and healthcare.

Approaching its 60th birthday, the NHS faces a flood of chronic illness. Prevention and self-management are increasingly vital but increasingly difficult. Patients are losing their traditional trust in medical experts and gaining access to new sources of information. It is now time to rethink and rebuild relationships between patients, professionals and the public.

With the noise of recent healthcare reforms, the everyday conversations that matter most have been drowned out. In this pamphlet, we look at innovative relationships that are starting to emerge and the barriers to further change. We argue that the future of the NHS lies not in new structures or new technologies, but in new conversations.

You can download recordings of the event here:

1. Colette Goldrick, Pfizer. (3 mb, mp3)
2. Jack Stilgoe, Demos (20 mb, mp3)
3. Dr Howard Stoates MP. (12.5 mb, mp3)
4. Richard Horton, Editor, The Lancet (20 mb, mp3)
5. Q&A Panel discussion. (46 mb, mp3)

Or you can listen to all these recordings at the Archive page.

Democratising Engagement

jamie.bartlett@demos.co.uk ( Jamie Bartlett ) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:52:56 -0100

Jamie Bartlett – (Chair) Demos
Andrea Cornwall – Institute of Development Studies
John Gaventa – Institute of Development Studies
Marion Barnes – Professor of Social Policy, University of Brighton
Hilary Wainwright – Editor of Red Pepper
Ed Cox – Policy Adviser to Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for CLG

Launch of a new Demos pamphlet on citizen engagement

Demos and the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex will launch a new publication entitled Democratising Engagement: What the UK can learn from international experience by Professor Andrea Cornwall.

How citizens actively engage in governance, and how to foster genuine and inclusive participation, are issues of global importance. The publication draws lessons for the UK from a recently published book, Spaces for Change: the Politics of Citizen Participation in New Democratic Arenas.

The event will involve speaker presentations on recent UK initiatives, including local government ‘Champions of Participation’, and will look at lessons from experiences of extending citizen engagement in governance from all around the world.

To RSVP please call the Demos switchboard on 020 7367 4200. Please note that places are limited.

Sarkozy's France

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:05:57 -0100

Professor Pascal Perrineau – Director, CEVIPOF, Paris
Dr Gérard Grunberg – Deputy Director, Sciences Po, Paris
Marc‑Olivier Padis – Editor-in-Chief, Esprit
Professor Marie-Anne Cohendet – Law Faculty, Sorbonne
Professor Yves Surel – Sciences Po, Grenoble
Dr Kalypso Nicolaïdis – Director, European Studies Centre, Oxford
Jérôme Fourquet – Deputy Director, Public Opinion Dept, IFOP
Dr François Purseigle – Sociologist, ENSA, Toulouse
Dr Catherine Fieschi – Director, Demos

on 5th May a debate between
Eric Besson – State Secretary
Pierre Moscovici – French MP, previously Minister for European Affairs

A two-day conference to be held at the French Institute in London on the 5th and the 6th of May.

What does the election of Nicolas Sarkozy tell us about the evolution of French society and political culture? Does his election signal the demise of French populism and the abdication of the political left?

Ever since his resounding success in the 2007 French presidential elections, Sarkozy has in turn enthused, irritated, fascinated, or incensed many, both within and outside his country.

Apparently intent on challenging conventional political boundaries, Nicolas Sarkozy has championed a ‘rupture’ or break with the country’s political traditions in order to address pressing domestic and global challenges.

Yet French political observers and scholars still struggle to understand his new administration. Similarly, opposition parties have so far failed to offer a credible alternative to Sarkozy’s aggressive political positioning.

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the 2007 French presidential elections, French experts as well British academics, policy makers and journalists will present evidence-based analyses of the Sarkozy administration to date.

To register for this event please click here. Please note that there is a £20 registration fee. If you are student click here to get in free.

For more information please contact Dr Pierre Purseigle at the University of Birmingham.

Eppur si muove?

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:04:41 -0100

John Peet – (Chair), Europe Editor, The Economist
Guglielmo Picchi - Forza Italia MP
(listen to his talk here - mp3, 19.7mb)
Sandro Gozi – Centre Left MP; Chairman Schengen Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies
(listen to his talk here - mp3, 17.8mb)
Raffaele Fantetti - candidate for the PdL
(Listen to his talk here - mp3, 17.9mb)
Dr Robert Leonardi - LSE, Jean Monnet Senior Lecturer in European Union Politics
(Listen to his talk here - mp3, 16.8mb)

Demos and the Italian think tank Vision are hosting a debate on the next Italian general election taking place in April 2008.

Is Italian politics all about drama, or is there more to it? To many it may seem confused and sometimes non-sensical. But commentators have argued that Italy is somehow a laboratory for politics – inventing and re-inventing itself. Its anomalous nature is one of the reasons why year after year, Italian politics continues to be of interest to political scientists and international audiences alike.

To the casual observer, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s famous words from Il Gattopardo still resonate: ‘everything seems to change, yet in fact everything stays the same’. And yet we are seeing change on both sides of the political spectrum. New faces, particularly young people and women, are starting to replace the old guard; the political programmes are pushing for change, despite resistance from the many lobby groups in the country. Perhaps change is indeed looming – as Galileo Galilei remarked while watching the slow movements of the chandelier in the Dome of Pisa, ‘eppur si muove’ (and yet it moves).

This high level seminar at Demos will seek to make sense of it all. What is new? And what will be the key, make-or-break issues? It will shed light on the new bipartisan political context in Italy ahead of the 13-14 April ballot and provide a commentary, a context and a platform for a new chapter in Italian politics.

For more information contact Alessandra Buonfino: alessandra.buonfino@demos.co.uk.

A speech by the Home Secretary

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:46:10 -0100

The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith came to Demos to deliver a speech about personal information and identity cards.

In the speech, she outlined the government's plans for a national identity register and announced a new timetable to roll out a national ID card scheme. She also sought to allay fears about data security, pointing to the success of the government's e-passport scheme.

She acknowledged the role of Demos' recent work on identity and privacy in shaping the government's thinking in this area. Demos' December report, FYI, gained national attention when it called for a new debate about the politics of personal information.

You can read the speech here.

To find out more about or discuss Demos' work in this area, please contact peter.bradwell@demos.co.uk.

Is public science a public good?

jack.stilgoe@demos.co.uk ( Jack Stilgoe ) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:17:36 -0100

Should we be worried about companies funding university science? Does it make for more innovation or is it poisoning science and blackening our ivory towers? Join us for a debate on the future of public science.

We are delighted to have the following speakers

Philip Moriarty, Professor of physics, University of Nottingham
Ben Goldacre, Scientist and journalist
Terence Kealey, Vice Chancellor University of Buckingham
John Pethica, Chief Scientist, National Physical Laboratory
Ian Gibson MP
Phil Willis MP
Jack Stilgoe, Demos (chair)

RSVP to science@demos.co.uk

The Inequality of Hope

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:15:11 -0100

Chris Grayling MP, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, will give a speech in which he will discuss the problem of alienated young men in Britain and argue that a decline has taken place in social structures that used to provide young men with reference points for their lives.

He will go on to consider worklessness, schoollessness, lack of role models and the importance of team work and sport to a generation for whom school and work are becoming alien ideas.

The speech will be followed by an open and interactive discussion on directions for national policy. If you want to attend the speech please call 0207 367 4200.

New perspectives on Chinese innovation

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:03:00 -0100

China has big plans to boost its capacity for homegrown innovation. It is rising fast up the global league tables for investment, publications and patents, and a recent review by the OECD concludes that China 'is now a major R&D player'.

But further progress will depend on the playing out of a complicated set of tensions: between the planned economy and the market; between national priorities and global networks; between the hardware of research infrastructure and the software of culture, skills and creativity.

This half day workshop aims to provide a series of fresh perspectives on Chinese innovation, whilst also encouraging networking and an exchange of ideas between the many UK-based projects now working on aspects of Chinese innovation.

Speakers include:
Gang Zhang, Principal Administrator, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry
Richard Halkett, Executive Director of Policy and Research, NESTA
Simon Collinson, Professor of International Business and Innovation, Warwick Business School
Nikolas Rose, Professor of Sociology & Director, BIOS Centre, London School of Economics
Rushanara Ali, Associate Director, The Young Foundation
David Tyfield, Research Associate, Lancaster University & Demos

RSVP to atlasofideas@demos.co.uk

This event is proudly supported by AIM - the Advanced Institute of Management Research, and NESTA.

Going Dutch

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:54:14 -0100

The final seminar in our series on integration and participation in Britain and the Netherlands.

Seminar 3: An Equal Say?

Political Participation and Integration

Following successful debates on economic and cultural participation, the final seminar will consider tho role of political participation in integration.

We are delighted to be joined by an expert panel:

David Goodhart - Editor, Prospect magazine
Prof Pauline L. Meurs - Member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy, Netherlands
Prof Paul Schnabel - General Director of the Social and Cultural Planning Office of the Netherlands
Sunny Hundal - Commentator, founder New Generation Network
Dr. Catherine Fieschi - (Chair) Director, Demos

Comparing the institutions and the outcomes to which multiculturalism policies have given rise, the speakers will address the state of our participatory mechanisms; the degree of successful integration and the nature of community cohesion; and the prospects and need for the transformation of both formal and informal political institutions.

The seminars will be accompanied by a specially commissioned collection of essays by the series’ speakers where they will outline their vision on these issues.

The seminar is by invitation only. If you would like to attend the event, please call us on 020 7367 4200 or email seminars@demos.co.uk.

The Everyday Democracy Index

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:18:49 -0100

Launch of a new Demos project on everyday democracy in Europe, with:

Timothy Garton Ash - Guardian columnist
Paul Skidmore - McConnell Fellow, Princeton University

What are the most democratic countries in Europe? How would we find out?

To answer these questions, Demos has spent the last year developing the Everyday Democracy Index (EDI).

The EDI is a unique new approach to measuring the democratic health of nations. Using data for 25 European countries, it measures and compares ordinary citizens' perceptions and experience of democratic empowerment.

Instead of looking only at traditional arenas such as elections and political activism, the EDI tries to get inside the black box of family life, workplaces and public services to understand what the lived experience of democracy is really like in these countries.

The launch will present the work's newest findings and will describe the future development of the project.

If you would like to attend the launch event, please RSVP to everydaydemocracy@demos.co.uk