Events & Seminars 2013-14
30 Sep 2013: Venezuela after Chavez: reflections on an uncertain future
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 718, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Dr Inaki Sagarzazu, University of Glasgow
Jointly organised with Latin American Research Network
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
14 Oct 2013: The program-to-policy linkage: a comparative study of election pledges and government policies in ten countries
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 718, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Professor Robert Thomson, University of Strathclyde (in collaboration with Terry Royed, Elin Naurin, Joaqu¡n Art‚s, Rory Costello, Mark Ferguson, Petia Kostadinova, and Catherine Moury)
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
1 Nov 2013: The marginal among the invisible: women in the informal economy
Time: 18:00
Venue: Room 407, Boyd Orr Building
Public lecture: Building solidarity between continents
When we think about employment we generally focus on jobs in the formal economy, which makes millions of workers invisible. Many workers are self-employed in small unregistered businesses and also wage-earners in cleaning, catering, commerce and other sectors of the informal economy, where economic activities are not regulated nor protected by the State. Women are overrepresented among workers with non-standard employment arrangements and have indeed joined the informal economy in large numbers. As crisis takes root the dimension of the informal economy is growing across the globe, including in the UK and other European countries. In countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the informal economy can be as high as 90% of the total workforce.
In early November women leaders from the Nicaraguan Movement of Working and Unemployed Women Maria Elena Cuadra (MEC) and from the Malawian Union for the Informal Sector (MUFIS) will be at the University of Glasgow to share their experience of organising women domestic workers, street vendors and home-based workers and to tell us why supporting them should be a priority for those concerned about development, labour rights and gender and economic justice.
Speakers:
PATRICIA ESTRADA lives in Chichigalpa, a town close to Managua (capital of Nicaragua), which houses the Headquarters of the Movement of Working and Unemployed Women Maria Elena Cuadra (MEC) .
She joined MEC as an outreach and advocacy worker in 1998, when she was 14 years old. Patricia has now extensive experience as an advocate for the rights of women working informal sector and has expanded MEC's networks and membership with hundreds of street vendors, market traders, domestic workers, entrepreneurs and rural workers.
She delivers trainings for women on issues of gender, economic literacy gender budgeting, human and labour rights and sexual and reproductive rights, and supports member as a paralegal in the defence and promotion of their rights.
MEC was established in 1994 and today has a membership of more than 70,000 women in seven Departments of Nicaragua, including maquila factories workers, small entrepreneurs, rural women, women working in the informal economy and unemployed women. MEC works to improve the quality of life of working and unemployed women in the poorest sectors of Nicaragua and fights for women's equality and in defence of their rights as women, workers and mothers.
FAITH SHABA works as a street vendor from Blantyre, Malawi. She makes a living selling clothes, for which she travels across various t Malawian provinces. Faith joined the Malawian Union of Informal Workers (MUFIS) in 2011, where she is active in the women's committee as well as in the organization's own micro-credit initiative.
A passionate advocate of women's rights, Faith denounces how women working as street vendors in Southern Africa are unaware of their rights and are harassed and abused by council officials, police and other vendors alike.
"Street vending is biased towards men. Lending institutions for instance favour men, who get loans and equipment much more easily, whereas women are asked for extensive evidence of their ability to repay." With MUFIS Faith works to raise awareness of these issues among other male and female unionists and to build a culture of respect for women's rights among street vendors.
MUFIS was established in 2001 to represent the growing numbers of informal economy workers, which now stands at 88% of the active population. Working together with existing street vendor and market trader organisations, it aims to provide a national platform for informal economy workers to raise their concerns to government authorities. MUFIS also trains members in leadership and business ventures and fights for the right to the city.
2 Nov 2013: Making change happen: How we campaign!
Time: 10:00
Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Building, Basement Seminar Room
Free advocacy and campaigning course presented by the Central American Women's Network.
University of Glasgow in association with The Active Learning Centre.
4 Nov 2013: Ethics and Integrity in British Politics: How Citizens Judge their Politicians’ Conduct and Why it Matters
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 718, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Professor Sarah Birch, University of Glasgow
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
18 Nov 2013: Mackenzie lecture: Virtues and Vices of Political Leadership in Liberal Democracies
Time: 17:00
Venue: Room 718, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Professor Donald Searing, University of North Carolina
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
2 Dec 2013: The Politics of Extreme Austerity in Greece and the Drivers of Anti-Austerity Protest
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 718, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Dr Georgios Karyotis, University of Glasgow
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
20 Jan 2014: EU employment policy in transition: towards more hierarchical forms of governance
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 916, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Dr Myrto Tsakatika, University of Glasgow
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
27 Jan 2014: Lobbying the EU: density and diversity of activity
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 916, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Professor David Coen (UCL)
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
10 Feb 2014: The impact of the economic crisis in Spain on citizens' relationship to politics
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 916, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Dr Irene Mart¡n Cort‚s (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid)
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
17 Feb 2014: The Mysterious Case of Aafia Siddiqui: Reading Gothic Ambivalence in the War on Terror
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 916, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Dr Caron Gentry (University of St Andrews)
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
18 Feb 2014: Self-Determination in the 21st Century: Scotland's Phoenix or a Pandora's Box?
Time: 18:00
Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Building
Stevenson Trust for Citizenship Lecture Series 2012-14 & Glasgow Human Rights Network Annual Lecture
Speaker: Professor Hurst Hannum (Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA)
24 Feb 2014: Doing International Ethics
Time: 18:00
Venue: Room 916, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Professor Kimberley Hutchings (LSE)
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
10 Mar 2014: Constituent preferences over representative activities: evidence from conjoint analyses
Time: 16:00
Venue: Room 916, Adam Smith Building
Presenter: Dr Nick Vivyan (University of Durham)
The Politics Seminar Series is supported by the MacFie Bequest, named after Professor Alec MacFie, Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the University from 1945 to 1958.
7 May 2014: It's not the economy, stupid! Stevenson Trust for Citizenship Lecture Series 2012-14
Time: 18:00
Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Bldg, University Avenue, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Speaker: John Kay (Visiting Professor in Economics, LSE; Fellow, St John's College, Oxford; leading economist, journalist and political commentator)
This lecture continues the Stevenson Trust series of lectures: Scotland's Citizens: The Referendum and Beyond
Free and open to all members of staff and students of the University and members of the general public.
3 Jun 2014: The Referendum: Reflections and A Conversation. Stevenson Trust for Citizenship Lecture Series 2012-14
Time: 18:00
Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Bldg, University Avenue, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Professor Andrew Lockyer (Hon Stevenson Professor) and Dr Kevin Francis (Stevenson Fellow), with colleagues, will offer reflections on the arguments thus far.
The audience will be invited to contribute to and continue this conversation.
This lecture continues the Stevenson Trust series of lectures: Scotland's Citizens: The Referendum and Beyond
Free and open to all members of staff and students of the University and members of the general public.
1 Jul 2014: What Scotland Needs To Flourish. Stevenson Trust for Citizenship Lecture Series 2012-14
Time: 18:00
Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, Boyd Orr Building, University of Glasgow
Speaker: Lesley Riddoch (journalist, campaigner and author)
In this lecture Lesley Riddoch looks to go beyond the outcome of the Referendum to ask the deeper questions about the possibilities for a future Scotland.
This lecture continues the Stevenson Trust series of lectures: Scotland's Citizens: The Referendum and Beyond
Free and open to all members of staff and students of the University and members of the general public.
3-6 Sep 2014: European Consortium for Political Research General Conference 2014
For full details please visit the conference website: http://www.gla.ac.uk/ecpr2014
9 Sep 2014: Choosing the Future: How Scotland's Citizens Might Vote. Stevenson Trust for Citizenship Lecture Series 2012-14
Time: 18:00
Venue: Sir Charles Wilson Building
Speaker: Professor John Curtice (Professor of Government at Strathclyde University and Honorary Stevenson Fellow)
This lecture continues the Stevenson Trust series of lectures: Scotland's Citizens: The Referendum and Beyond
Professor John Curtice will take us through the latest indications from the opinion polls. Informal reception afterwards.
Free and open to all members of staff and students of the University and members of the general public.
11 Sep 2014: Kicking the Life Back into a Dying Mutual Friend: A Letter from America on Independence. Stevenson Trust for Citizenship Lecture Series 2012-14
Time: 18:00
Venue: Boyd Orr Lecture theatre 1
Speaker: Professor Niall Ferguson (Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University)
This lecture continues the Stevenson Trust series of lectures: Scotland's Citizens: The Referendum and Beyond
Professor Ferguson hails from Glasgow and has built an international reputation for his work. The publication in 2003 of 'Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World' cemented his reputation as an historian of global sweep. As this work indicates, Niall Ferguson remains committed to the continuation of the Union.
Free and open to all members of staff and students of the University and members of the general public.