The Reith Lectures: Ben Ansell - Our Democratic Future

The Reith Lectures

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Podcasts

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series.

BBC Radio 4 FM

The Reith Lectures: Ben Ansell: Our Democratic Future: 2. The Future of Security

Episode 2

2. The Future of Security

Ben Ansell: Our Democratic Future

BBC Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures, Ben Ansell: Our Democratic Future, 2. The Future of Security

Professor Ben Ansell gives the second of his 2023 Reith Lectures on why politics fails.

Professor Ben Ansell's second Reith Lecture where he asks if we in the west have been lulled into a false sense of security about threats from abroad and at home?

This year's BBC Reith Lecturer is Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University.  He will deliver four lectures called “Our Democratic Future.”

In his series Professor Ansell 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.  The lectures build on his recent book Why Politics Fails, which identifies a series of traps that prevent us from attaining our collective goals and presents solutions to help us overcome those traps. 

In this second lecture called 'The Future of Security', recorded in Berlin in front of an audience,  he asks whether citizens of wealthy countries have been lulled into a false sense of security about threats from abroad and at home. It examines how we can control the security technologies of tomorrow, from facial recognition to autonomous weapons. And Ansell suggests how we can develop technologies powerful enough to protect us without exploiting us.
 
The Reith Lectures are chaired by Anita Anand and produced by Jim Frank. 
The Editor is China Collins, and the coordinator is Brenda Brown.  
The series is mixed by Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill.

The Reith Lectures: Ben Ansell: Our Democratic Future

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Professor Ben Ansell asks how we can make politics work for all of us in the 21st century.

Professor Ben Ansell asks how we can make politics work for all of us as we face the challenges of the 21st century, from climate change to artificial intelligence.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Reith Lectures

Ben Ansell: Our Democratic Future

2. The Future of Security

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4