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Nature & Environment
Innovation: The Environment
With global warming and climate change increasing, what can we do to tackle this problem? This album explores the economics of lowering carbon emissions and how Britain is tackling this problem, through expert analysis and opinions on carbon taxes, carbon reduction, renewable energy and environmental damage. This material forms part of The Open ...
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Society, Politics & Law
The Amartya Sen interviews
Nobel prize winning economist and philosopher, Professor Amartya Sen is widely regarded as one of the most influential public thinkers of our time, his interest and impact ranging across the key questions facing all societies: how can we promote economic well being, fairness and justice and how do we tackle deprivation and injustice. In this ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Markets in crisis
In the first decade of the 21st century we saw financial markets collapse, sudden spikes in food prices and projections of major environmental impact from climate change. All pose serious challenges to the global economic and financial systems. Economist and Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen along with leading experts in the field discuss ...
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Society, Politics & Law
The Politics of Participation
Why do people choose to vote, or indeed, not to vote? The Open University's Professor Michael Saward is joined by his colleagues Paul Lewis and Richard Heffernan along with Sarah Childs (Professor of Politics and Gender at Bristol University), to discuss the politics of participation, with reference to the 2010 general election in the UK.
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Society, Politics & Law
The Passionate Advocate
Should lawyers be passionate? Or should the argument stand or fall on its merits – and not on the dramatic abilities of its advocate? Professor Gary Slapper, Director of the Centre for Law at The Open University is joined by Frances Gibb, Legal Editor of the Times, to discuss the role of personality and rhetoric in the 21st century court room.
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Society, Politics & Law
The Future For Finance
The financial crisis of 2008 has been widely blamed on poor regulation of financial institutions and the bonus driven casino culture. So what measures are the new coalition Government taking to ensure a crisis on this scale doesn’t happen again? Martin Upton of The Open University Business School’s Centre for Accounting
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Society, Politics & Law
Cooperation, anarchy and interdependence
How can the World Trade Organisation (WTO) control international states without one central world government? Is the WTO just a club for the extremely rich and powerful? The Open University’s Dr William Brown leads discussions around the themes of co-operation, interaction and interdependencies. Dr. Jef Huysmans and Dr. Simon Bromley delve into...
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Society, Politics & Law
Sacking Prime Ministers
Over the past one hundred years, only two British prime ministers, Stanley Baldwin and Harold Wilson have left Number 10 entirely voluntarily, the electorate has voted most of them out. So why do PM’s so rarely leave office on their own terms? What happens when a prime minister’s credibility becomes weakened? The Open University’s Dr. Richard ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Technology, networks and international order
How have technological change and the rise in organised networks affected international order? William Brown, Senior Lecturer in Government and Politics, is joined by fellow Open University lecturers Dr Simon Bromley and Dr Helen Yanacopulos to investigate the key issues through recent events such as the 'Jubilee 2000 debt campaign’ and the ...
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Society, Politics & Law
This Sporting Planet
Sport is a massive global phenomenon. Events and sporting heroes attract an enormous amount of interest. What’s going on? Why do sporting heroes matter so much and why is the media full of sports news? This album uses interviews with four key people in sport (Ed Smith, Sue Tibballs, Ed Warner and Sunder Katwala) to explore the relationship ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Politics
Governments across the world have to make controversial decisions everyday. Whether it be raising taxes, cutting budgets or going to war, there will always be opposition. The tracks on this album look at how governments make decisions, form policies and sometimes manipulate information to help their cause. The four video tracks focus on the GM ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Understanding Cities
At the beginning of the 21st century, more than half the world’s population live in cities. Issues about governance, intensification of social relationships, the impact of globalisation, and the way green spaces are utilised become ever more pressing concerns. The tracks on this album explore some of the challenges faced across the world as ...