Professor Brown will discuss two trends have that grown in ideological force in Arab politics in recent years: one emphasizing popular sovereignty and democratic accountability; the other stressing the divine origin of political authority. Do these operate at cross purposes? And might either trend tame the authoritarian patterns that seem so deeply entrenched in the region?

Popular Sovereignty and Religious Peoples in the Arab World

Fifty years and more of research on the beliefs and fears of citizens have emphasized their vulnerability to prejudice and political intolerance; their minimal levels of political knowledge; the wobbliness of their political preferences; and, not to run on interminably, the feebleness of their commitment to core democratic values. The three lectures will re-examine this portrait of citizens.

The Democratic Faith: The Elasticity of Preferences

The Democratic Faith: Multiculturalism Redux

The Democratic Faith: Myrdal's Conjecture

Yale University's Program in Ethics, Politics and Economics is pleased to announce that Joost Hiltermann, Chief Operating Officer at International Crisis Group, delivers this year's Robert H. Litowitz Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy. In his lecture, Mr. Hiltermann will ask what can be done to stem an apparent sectarian tide sweeping the Middle East in the wake of recent upheavals, from the 2003 US invasion of Iraq to the 2011 Arab awakening.

From Sunni-Shia Coexistence to a Mideast Sectarian War?

The annual "Meet the Author" lecture, sponsored by the Program in Ethics, Politics and Economics was delivered by Abhijit Banerjee, MIT, Professor and co-author of Poor Economics, who spoke on "Microfinance: After the Hype and the Crisis."

Microfinance: After the Hype and the Crisis

Robert H. Litowitz Lecture

Mr. Caldwell is a weekly columnist at the Financial Times, a senior editor at the Weekly Standard, and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. He is the author of Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West. In his lecture, Mr. Caldwell will discuss the demographic and economic problems facing Europe today. He will argue that both are symptoms of a larger political crisis.

Money, Migration, and the European Crisis, The 2012 Robert H. Litowitz Lecture

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law presented the 2010 Robert Litowitz Lecture for the Program in Ethics, Politics and Economics.   Professor An-Na’im presented and defended a framework for the constant theoretical and political contestation of the relationship between Islam, the state, politics and society.

Islam and the Secular State

Michael W. Doyle, Harold Brown Professor of International Affairs, Law and Political Science at Columbia University, gave three public lectures where he examined the legal and ethical arguments supporting nonintervention, engaging in a dialogue with John Stuart Mill’s famous remarks on the subject.  This is the second lecture of a three-part series.

Overriding Nonintervention: National Security and Humanitarian Concern

Michael W. Doyle, Harold Brown Professor of International Affairs, Law and Political Science at Columbia University, gave three public lectures where he examined the legal and ethical arguments supporting nonintervention, engaging in a dialogue with John Stuart Mill’s famous remarks on the subject.  This is the third lecture of a three-part series.

Disregarding Nonintervention: National Liberation and Imperial Paternalism

Samuel Bowles, Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and Professor of Economics at the University of Siena, gave three public lectures presenting evidence that explicit incentives and constraints often diminish ethical motivations.  This is the first lecture of a three-part series.

Moral Sentiments and Material Interests

Samuel Bowles, Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and Professor of Economics at the University of Siena, gave three public lectures where he presented evidence that explicit incentives and constraints often diminish ethical motivations.  This is the third lecture of a three-part series.

Machiavelli's Mistake

Samuel Bowles, Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and Professor of Economics at the University of Siena, gave three public lectures where he presented evidence that explicit incentives and constraints often diminish ethical motivations.  This is the second lecture of a three-part series.

Is Liberalism a Parasite on Tradition?

Ethics, Politics & Economics - Video

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