Events

The School of Politics and International Relations are committed to making studying Politics and International Relations as enriching and stimulating as possible. We are thus keen on bridging the gap between academic study and ‘real-life’ politics as experienced by practitioners in a wide range of demanding roles in different political systems.

Central to these efforts is our regular Visiting Speaker Programme under whose auspices prominent academics and practitioners from all over the world are invited to Kent to give public lectures on key topics under public discussion.  

Visiting Speaker Programme

 

Friday 14th May 2010, 5pm, Grimond Lecture Theatre 1

The Inaugural Kent Lecture in Social and Political Thought, Professor William Outhwaite, University of Newcastle.

More about this event here »

 

Wednesday 10th March 2010, 5pm, Keynes Lecture Theatre 3

Professor Aurelien Colson, 'Rebuilidng Trust in War-Torn Societies: How to Make the First Moves?' 

 

Monday 8th March 2010, 5pm, Keynes Lecture Theatre 5

Professor Oliver Marchat,  Department of Sociology, University of Lucerne,' Democratic Self-Alienation.'

 

Wednesday 24th February 2010, 5pm, Keynes Lecture Theatre 3

Dr Robert Schuetze, Law School, University of Durham, 'Federalism and European Union: American and European Perspectives.'

More about this event here »

 

Wednesday 10th February 2010, 5pm, Keynes Lecture Theatre 3

Dr Daniel Neep, Lecturer in International and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Exeter, 'Colonial Violence, Postcolonial Historical Sociology: Insights into State Formation from French Mandate Syria.'

More about this event here »

 

Wednesday 3rd February 2010, 5pm, Keynes Lecture Theatre 3

Dr Alex Braithwaite, Lecturer in International Relations and Director of the MSc Security Studies in the School of Public Policy at UCL, 'Territorial Terrorists.' 

More about this event here »

 

 

Conference and Workshops

To be updated shortly

 

Open Days

Undergraduate

Dates for Undergraduate Open Days at the Canterbury Campus:

Saturday 26th June 2010

  • 10am - 3pm

Saturday 9th October 2010

  • 10am - 3pm

Further information is available here.

Postgraduate

Dates for Postgraduate Open Events at the University of Kent, Woolf College:

Saturday 6th February 2010

  • 11am - 3pm

Further information is available here.

 

Past events

2009/10

Autumn term

Professor and Director Todd Landman, Centre for Democratic Governance, University of Essex
Relativising Human Rights: A New Method for Country Ranking
Wednesday 9th December 2009

Professor Ferran Requejo, University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
The Annual Lecture of the Centre of Federal Studies. Title: Liberal and Federal Deficits in Multinational Democracies: The Case of Catalonia and the Spanish Estado de las Autonomias
Thursday 19th November 2009

Nik Gowing, Presenter for BBC World
Title: Skyful of Lies and Black Swans: who controls shifting information power in sudden crises?
Wednesday 16th November

Dr Sarah Hyde
Lecturer, University of Kent
Title: The Japanese 2009 House of Representatives Elections: What level of victory for centre-left?
Wednesday 7th October 2009

Professor Jose Ramón Montero
Department of Political Science and IR, Autonomous University of Madrid
Title: From religious cleavage to religious voting: establishing the phenomenon
Wednesday 28th October 2009

Dan Plesch
Director of Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, SOAS
Title: FDR's Foreign policy in WW2, the peak of US internationalism: implications for global governance
Wednesday 4th November 2009

Spring term

 

2008/9

Autumn term

Neophytos Loizides
Lecturer, Queen's University, Belfast
Title: Federalizing Cyprus: Incentives and Linkages in Negotiating the Settler and Refugee Issues
Monday 15th December 2008

Dr Jane O'Mahony
Lecturer, Department of Politics and International Relations, UoK
Book Presentation: Ireland's EU Referendum Experience: Elite Withdrawal and Populist Capture
Wednesday 10th December 2008

Terry Boardman
In association with the Centre for the Study of Politics and Spirituality
Title: The Spiritual Crisis of Politics and World Economy
Thursday 4th December 2008

Warwick Morris
fmr. Ambassador of the UK to South Korea
Title: A First-hand View of Developments on the Korean Peninsula since the 1970s and the Current Outlook
Wednesday 26th November 2008

Professor Richard Simeon
University of Toronto
Title: Like Federalism, like Snow? Alternative Discourses in Federalism
Wednesday 19th November 2008

Dr Andrew Wroe/Professor Maurice Vile/Sir Robert Worcester/Dr Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels
University of Kent
Title: Analyzing the Results of the USA Presidental Elections
Wednesday 5th November 2008

Alan Renwick
Lecturer, University of Reading
Title: The Politics of Electoral Reform: A Comparative Approach
Wednesday 22nd October 2008

John Morrison
Senior Fellow for the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies
Former Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence
Title: The Craft of Intelligence Analysis: Secrets, Assessments, Prophecies, Delusions and Damned Lies
Wednesday 15th October 2008

 

Spring term

Michael Howard
Former Leader of the Conservative Party, MP for Folkestone and Hythe at Westminster
Title: Parliamentary Accountability: Myth or Reality?
Thursday 29th January 2009

Adekeye Adebajo
Visiting Fellow at the Centre of African Studies, Cambridge University
Title: The Curse of Berlin: Africa's Security Architecture
Wednesday 25th February 2009

Mark Canning (HMA Rangoon, Burma) and Andrew Mace (HMA Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
A Discussion on Human Rights and Good Governance with UK Ambassadors to Burma and Cambodia
Friday 27th March 2009

Mr Roger McDermott
Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Kent
Title: Russian Military Reform and Strategic Challenges
Wednesday 1st April 2009

 

2007/8

Autumn term

Dr Thomas Krumm
Lecturer of Political Science
Philipps-Universität Marburg 
The Swiss Model of Democracy   
10th October 2007

Ambassador Albert Rohan
Deputy Special Envoy on the status of Kosovo United Nations
International Conflict Resolution: The Case of Kosovo
Friday 19th October 2007

Professor John Kincaid
Professor of Political Science
Lafayette College
The Three Faces of Federalism: Coercive Dualistic and Cooperative
31st October 2007

Jamie Shea
Director of Policy Planning
NATO
Nato Goes Global: Will Afghanistan Make or Break the Western Alliance?
7th November 2007

John Pilger
Free-lance Investigative Journalist
War on Democracy
Thursday 6th December 2007

Spring term

Professor Arpad Szakolczai
Department of Sociology, University College Cork 
The Carnival is Over: Reading Plato Today   
16th January 2008

Professor Randolph C. Head
Associate Professor of History, University of California at Riverside
Religious Difference and Accommodation: Lessons from the Swiss Experience
27th February 2008

Ross Herbert and Steven Gruzd
South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
African Peer Review - Can it really change African governance?
10th March 2008

David Earnshaw
Managing Director, Burton Marsteller Europe. Independent Expert European Parliament. Visiting Professor, College of Europe, Bruges
Lobbying in the European Union
11th March 2008

James Ker-Lindsay
Senior Research Fellow in European Studies, Kingston University
Kosovo: A Solved Conflict?
13th March 2008

Professor Richard Sakwa
Professor of Russian and European Politics, University of Kent
The Crisis of Russian Democracy? The Putin Succession and Beyond.
19th March 2008

Phil. C. W. Chan
Senior Visiting Researcher, Institute of Public Law, University of Freiburg
The Legal Status of Taiwan and the Legality of the Use of Force in a Cross-Taiwan Strait Conflict
14th May 2008

Margaret Barker
Biblical Scholar
Mary and the Wisdom Tradition of the Temple
29th May 2008

Professsor Stephen Zunes
Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of San Francisco
Unarmed Insurrections against Autocratic Regimes: Democracy or Hegemony?   
9th July 2008

Summer term

Phil. C. W. Chan
Senior Visiting Researcher, Institute of Public Law, University of Freiburg
The Legal Status of Taiwan and the Legality of the Use of Force in a Cross-Taiwan Strait Conflict
14th May 2008

Margaret Barker
Biblical Scholar
Mary and the Wisdom Tradition of the Temple
29th May 2008

Professsor Stephen Zunes
Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of San Francisco
Unarmed Insurrections against Autocratic Regimes: Democracy or Hegemony?   
9th July 2008