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Is history a guide to politics? | LSE Festival

Hosted by LSE Festival: Power and Politics

Old Theatre, Old Building

Speakers

Professor Gordon Barrass

Professor Gordon Barrass

Dr Angus Wrenn

Dr Angus Wrenn

Chair

Dr Olga Sobolev

Dr Olga Sobolev

LSE Language Centre, in collaboration with the LSESU Drama Society, presents an evening of theatre and discussion, featuring Professor Gordon Barrass, a specialist on strategy assessment and perception.  

A discussion on the New Cold War, the dynamics of resistance and coercion, and its impact on the shifting power arrangements, will be followed by the performance of Vaclav Havel’s Leaving.  

One of the leaders of the Velvet Revolution and an acclaimed playwright, Havel wrote this play in 2007 having resigned from his position as the first President of the Czech Republic. 

Meet our speakers and chair

Gordon Barrass is a Visiting Professor at LSE IDEAS, where he specialises on strategy, assessments and perceptions. After more than 20 years in the British Diplomatic Service he served as Chief of the Assessments Staff in the Cabinet Office. He then spent nearly a decade helping PwC expand its business in China’s rapidly growing financial services sector. 

Olga Soboloev is Language Co-ordinator (Literature and Russian) at LSE's Language Centre. 

Angus Wrenn is Tutorial Fellow at LSE's Language Centre. 

More about this event

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Power and Politics running from Monday 10 to Saturday 15 June 2024, with a series of events exploring how power and politics shape our world. Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 13 May.  

The LSE Language Centre teaches courses that focus on language and society, encouraging students to learn how to use language in the contexts they would like to live, study and work in. The Centre teaches people to speak languages, but also teaches about language (socio-linguistics and intercultural communication) and offers a range of courses on literature and society.

The LSESU Drama Society produce several productions a year and have been named the incumbent 'Society of the Year' as well as Gold Star Winners for 7 years running. Members of the society take part in any aspect of putting together a show, participate in  weekly drama workshops, and get discounted tickets to all shows, West End productions and regular social events.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival  

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A podcast of this event is available to download from Is history a guide to politics?

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From time to time there are changes to event details so we strongly recommend that if you plan to attend this event you check back on this listing on the day of the event. 

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