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The programme that explains the present by exploring the past

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

The Forum: 14/04/2012 GMT

Discussion & Talk

14/04/2012 GMT

BBC World Service - The Forum, 14/04/2012 GMT

We ask if failure can be the starting point for success.

We explore why nations fail, why diplomacy fails and why design fails, and ask if failure can be the starting point for success.

This week on the Forum: on the anniversary of one of the most spectacular failures in history – the sinking of the luxury cruise ship The Titanic in April 1912 – we take a look at failure and what we can learn from it. 

Parag Khanna, a leading geo-strategist, explores the failure of diplomacy in our modern age and calls for more independent negotiators. 

Turkish economist Daron Acemoglu argues that a nations' economic failure is not down to culture or geography, but due to economic institutions that are authoritarian and designed to benefit the elite. 

And American engineer Henry Petroski explains why he believes failure to imagine the possibility of failure is the most common mistake engineers make and that this attitude can be traced to be the cause of many major disasters. 

Illustration by Emily Kasriel: can we learn form the failure of nation states, diplomats and engineering?

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14/04/2012 GMT

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