This year's BBC Reith Lecturer is Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University and the author of "Why Politics Fails." He will deliver four lectures in a series called “Our Democratic Future.” The series asks how we can build a politics that works for all of us with systems which are robust to the challenges of the twenty first century, from climate change to artificial intelligence. In this third lecture, recorded in Sunderland, Professor Ansell explores whether we can develop a shared sense of belonging in today's polarised societies. How can we ensure that we look after the less fortunate in an economy that seems only to reward the 'already haves'? Ansell addresses the challenges posed by technologies that enrich a small elite and privatise solidarity with bespoke healthcare and benefits that might undermine collective solidarity. And he assesses how policy reform - from universal basic income to civic nationalism - might help renew our communities.
The Reith Lectures are chaired by Anita Anand and produced by Jim Frank. The Editor is China Collins, and the co-ordinator is Brenda Brown. The series is mixed by Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill.
Social Cohesion and Government
The Role of Individuality
The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature
Control and Initiative: Their Respective Spheres
Individual and Social Ethics
British Rule In India
The Psychology of Encounters
The Sciences and Man's Community
The Atlantic Bridge
The Geography of Art
Hogarth and Observed Life
Reynolds and Detachment
Perpendicular England
Blake and the Planing Line
Constable and the Pursuit of Nature
Architecture and Planning: The Functional Approach
Industrial Science
Science and Education
The Problem of Eastern and Central Europe
The Military Problem
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