BRITISH ACADEMY CENTENARY LECTURE: POLITICS

A Hundred years of Studying Politics: What Have We Got to Show for it?

Professor Brian Barry FBA, Columbia University

16 March 2002, 5.30pm
"Gilmorehill G12", University of Glasgow

Professor Brian Barry will argue that attempts to create a science of politics modelled on physics or microeconomics have failed. But fairly robust theories about political institutions have emerged which are capable of guiding public policy and constitutional reform.

Brian Barry is currently Arnold A Saltzman Professor in Political Science and Philosophy at Columbia University, New York and Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the British Academy. In 2000 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award given by the PSA (Political Studies Association of the UK) to mark its 50th Anniversary. No less than three of his many books have won the PSA's W J M McKenzie Prize for the best book of the year: Theories of Justice (1990), Justice as Impartiality (1995), and his controversial critique of multiculturalism Culture and Equality (2001). Polity Press will publish his Why Social Justice Matters in 2002.

The Lecture, including questions and discussion, will last from 6.30-7.30pm. It will be preceded by tea/coffee from 5.30 and followed by a British Academy reception from 7.30 - which will provide an opportunity for further discussion. The invited audience will include social and political scientists from throughout the UK as well as members of the British Academy, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Scottish Parliament and the business community. We very much hope that you will be able to join us.

The lecture is part of the British Academy's Centenary celebrations. Nine lectures are being held in nine universities spread around the UK - each lecture in a different discipline.
Full programme of the nine British Academy Centenary Lectures