Past FLJS events

Popular Representations of Development: Insights from Novels, Films, Television and Social Media

This book colloquium invites attendees to rethink their understanding of development issues in favour of a holistic approach encompassing literature, film, and other non-conventional forms of representation.

FLJS Films: The Act of Killing

A free screening of the 2014 BAFTA-winning documentary, The Act of Killing, with talk by human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Bertha Foundation and Wikileaks lawyer.

Trusting the ‘middle man’: Impact and Legitimacy of Ombudsmen

Recent EU legislation requires each member state to provide an ADR body for nearly every consumer sector. This conference will explore the implications through expert opinion from academic, practitioner, and policy perspectives.

Social Media in the Modern World: Legal, regulatory and human rights issues

A workshop to explore the legal, political, constitutional, and human rights issues raised by the prevalence of social media in modern life.

Social Media and the Culture of Connectivity

This lecture will reflect on how social media have become normalized in everyday life, and ask: what are the implications of the fact that large parts of everyday life are increasingly commercialized and engineered through social media?

(In)formal Economies, Economies of Favour: The End of Transition?

Twenty-five years on from the collapse of communism in the Eastern Bloc, we discuss two new publications on the importance in everyday life of the informal economy in a post-Soviet, post-Socialist era.

Gender Quotas for Corporate Boards and Democratic Legitimacy

This debate will address the controversy surrounding the use of quotas as a legal mechanism to address gender inequality in corporate boards of directors.

Shakespeare and the Lower Register of Constitutional Thought

In this lecture, Professor Denis Galligan will assess constitutional thought in the plays of Shakespeare, and argue that it is the view of the common people depicted in the plays that offers the key to a more authentic understanding of constitutionalism and constitutional history.

Can We Save Countries from Economic Crises? Some lessons from IMF and EU experience over three decades

Max Watson, a former senior official at the IMF and the European Commission, will discuss what lessons emerge from three decades of experience in handling economic crises, and how change can be catalysed in the face of deeply entrenched obstacles to reform.

The New Global Rulers: The Privatization of Regulation in the World Economy

This book colloquium will examine The New Global Rulers by Professors Tim Büthe and Walter Mattli, winner of the 2012 International Studies Association's Best Book Award.

The Lives of Others

Winner of the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language film, The Lives of Others is a political thriller set in the East Berlin of the 1980s, which explores issues of privacy and state control through the eyes of a Stasi officer.

Machiavelli's The Prince: 500 Years On

Professor Paolo Carta from the University of Trento, Italy will lead this discussion to mark the 500th anniversary of Machiavelli's The Prince, thought to be one of the first works of modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than abstract ideals.

Law and Literature: a Dilettante's Dream?

William Twining, Emeritus Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London, will deliver the inaugural lecture in a new programme on Law, Film, and Literature.

The Deep Roots of Social Systems Theory: Reconsidering the Contribution of Max Weber

Professor Alberto Febbrajo delivers this lecture on Max Weber's multilevel approach to socio-legal studies, as exemplified by the innovative concept of law developed in Economy and Society, considered to be the greatest sociological treatise of the twentieth century.

Film screening: Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda explores genocide, political corruption, and the repercussions of violence, and will be shown as part of the new programme on Development and the Implications for Law, Justice and Society.

How do Institutions Change? The Prospects for Law and Justice Priorities in the Post-2015 International Development Agenda

A panel discussion to examine the role of legal empowerment in the post-2015 development agenda. The discusssion will centre on strategies for realizing global- and national-level goals, focusing specifically on issues of governance and development goals relating to access to justice, corruption, legal identity, and judicial accountability.

First Annual Oxford Consumer ADR Conference

Consumer ADR (CDR) has taken a central place on the European landscape, and is the subject of harmonising EU legislation in 2012. This conference aims to bring together the leading viewpoints on how CDR should be taken forward, the EU legislation implemented, and the benefits maximised.

Populism and Constitutions

A workshop in the Jay Heritage Centre, Rye, discussing the new relationship between populism, government, and republicanism.

On the Nature of Constitutions

Noted legal scholar, author and Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar gives this keynote speech to commemorate Constitution Week and launch an academic conference titled Populism and Constitutions.

Film screening: The Law in These Parts

This revealing documentary investigates the justice of the legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories through interviews with the architects of this military legal system juxtaposed with historical footage. It provides a rare opportunity to ponder the banality of (judicial) evil; of lawyers as the willing executioners of power.