2014/15 IPS-Nathan Lecture Series by Mr Ho Kwon Ping

Diplomacy & International Politics

Politics, Government, Public Admin. & Governance

In part one of this edition of World View Tom Wright joins us on the line from Washington to discuss Donald Trump's long held views on foreign policy and how his "America first" approach could prove dangerous and destabilizing should he become president.

Holy but imperfect, in part two Paddy Smyth is joined in studio by Religious Affairs correspondent Patsy McGarry to talk about Mother Teresa's imminent canonization. 

Trump wants to put America first / Mother Teresa: Holy but Imperfect

This special edition of Latin Pulse includes an opportunity to hear a Cuban perspective on politics and diplomacy, along with an analysis of what derailed the peace process in Colombia.  A Cuban professor discusses the importance of continued exchanges between the United States and Cuba, while analyzing reactions to U.S. programs designed at political change and Cuban succession.  The program also discusses the rejection of the peace treaty with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The news segment covers doubts about the sincerity of Venezuela's president during the papal negotiations to end the country's political crisis and avert violence.


The program includes interviews with:


Santiago Perez Benitez of the University of Havana & the Cuban Center for International Political Research (CIPI); and
Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).


Executive Producer: Rick Rockwell; and
Associate Producer: Jim Singer. 

The photo of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Cuban President Raul Castro and FARC leader Rodrigo (Timochenko) Londoño Echeverri at the signing of a preliminary peace agreement is from the Cuban government and is in the public domain.

“Latin Pulse” is produced at Webster University’s School of Communications: www.webster.edu/communications/

Rick Rockwell's Album

Special: The Cuban Perspective & Derailing Peace in Colombia (Lp11122016)

Politics and Governance 

The first lecture in the series is titled Politics and Governance and ponders the next decades of political administration in Singapore. It discusses the prospects of the People’s Action Party in the age of social media, and broadly sets out the historical trends that other dominant political systems have undergone. How should governance evolve as our democracy matures? Can our current model of governance benefit from any reforms? And what of our political system? Simply put, will there even be a PAP in 50 years time?

00:09 mins - Opening Remarks: Prof Tommy Koh, Special Adviser, Institute of Policy Studies 
06:09 mins - Speaker: Mr Ho Kwon Ping, 2014/15 IPS Nathan Fellow
1:06:11 mins - Q&A chaired by Mr Janadas Devan, Director, Institute of Policy Studies 

Date: 20 October 2014
Time: 6.00 pm - 7.45pm
Venue: Theatre, University Cultural Centre

2014/15 IPS-Nathan Lecture Series: Lecture I by Mr Ho Kwon Ping

Economy and Business 

No economic forecasting can cover both the known unknowns and unknown unknowns for the next 50 years. We return to fundamentals and question whether the basic strategy for Singapore’s success in the past – leveraging off the Three L’s of Location, Land, and Labour – are still valid, especially the role of manufacturing when other city-states have moved entirely into services provision. Then, a few sacred cows or below-the-radar issues which will impact on the very long term future of business and the economy are examined in more detail. These include the need for a more integrated immigration and foreign worker policy, changes to the education, land and housing policies, the need for new indices of economic well-being, and the creation of an innovation-attracting social environment.

00:10 mins - Speaker: Mr Ho Kwon Ping, 2014/15 IPS Nathan Fellow
1:05:42 mins - Q&A chaired by Mr Lee Tzu Yang, Member, Academic Panel, Institute of Policy Studies 

Date: 12 November 2014
Time: 6.00 pm - 7.45pm
Venue: Auditorium, Shaw Foundation Alumni House

2014/15 IPS-Nathan Lecture Series: Lecture II by Mr Ho Kwon Ping

Security and Sustainability

Security is discussed through the four dimensions of external, internal, civil and societal security, and policies are examined in terms of their sustainability for the next 50 years of Singapore’s development. Questions asked include: what demographic constraints underpin the challenge of the Singapore Armed Forces, and what implications does this spell for its future? In light of the threat of domestic terrorism and the need for greater internal vigilance, what measures can we take to balance the protection of individual rights versus the needs of state security? To what extent is judicial corporal punishment justified by simply its deterrent effect as we aspire to become an increasingly humane and civilised society? And in the interests of societal cohesion, what possible policy initiatives might be considered?

00:10 mins - Speaker: Mr Ho Kwon Ping, 2014/15 IPS Nathan Fellow
45:28 mins - Q&A chaired by Amb Ong Keng Yong, Executive Deputy Chairman, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies 

Date: 5 February 2015
Time: 6.00 pm - 7.45pm
Venue: Auditorium, Shaw Foundation Alumni House

2014/15 IPS-Nathan Lecture Series: Lecture III by Mr Ho Kwon Ping

Demography and Family

Security is discussed through the four dimensions of external, internal, civil and societal security, and policies are examined in terms of their sustainability for the next 50 years of Singapore’s development. Questions asked include: what demographic constraints underpin the challenge of the Singapore Armed Forces, and what implications does this spell for its future? In light of the threat of domestic terrorism and the need for greater internal vigilance, what measures can we take to balance the protection of individual rights versus the needs of state security? To what extent is judicial corporal punishment justified by simply its deterrent effect as we aspire to become an increasingly humane and civilised society? And in the interests of societal cohesion, what possible policy initiatives might be considered?

00:10 mins - Speaker: Mr Ho Kwon Ping, 2014/15 IPS Nathan Fellow
50:19 mins - Q&A chaired by Ms Dawn Yip, Founder and Principal Consultant, Soulbreath Consulting 

Date: 4 March 2015
Time: 6.00 pm - 7.45pm
Venue: Auditorium, Shaw Foundation Alumni House

2014/15 IPS-Nathan Lecture Series: Lecture IV by Mr Ho Kwon Ping

Society and Identity

Society and Identity in Singapore is as amorphous as it is ambiguous in our context, yet has possibly the biggest impact on our future. How do we maintain the Singapore Dream as a purposeful aspiration for all Singaporeans amidst the plurality of, at times, competing ambitions? Three issues will be discussed – firstly, the strengthening of a cohesive diversity which underpins the Singaporean Identity; secondly, improving social mobility and a culture of egalitarianism; thirdly, embracing a more collaborative style of governance as we transition into the next fifty years of our independence.

0:10 mins - Speaker: Mr Ho Kwon Ping, 2014/15 IPS Nathan Fellow
51:26 mins - Q&A chaired by Mr Janadas Devan, Director, Institute of Policy Studies 

Date: 9 April 2015
Time: 6.00 pm - 7.45pm
Venue: Theatre, University Cultural Centre

2014/15 IPS-Nathan Lecture Series: Lecture V by Mr Ho Kwon Ping

Mary Buckley (Cambridge) speaks on how Russia deals with the global problem of unfree labour.

The Politics of Unfree Labour in Russia - Mary Buckley

Does speaking multiple languages make you smarter?

Linguistics professor Antonella Sorace thinks bilingualism has many benefits that go beyond language, for example in task switching.

Science communications student Susie (Shuoqi) Qu talks to Antonella Sorace about research into bilingualism and the work of her research and information centre Bilingualism Matters.

Related links:
Anntonella Sorace's profile page:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/antonella-sorace

Bilingualism Matters website:
http://www.bilingualism-matters.ppls.ed.ac.uk/

ccMixter

Bilingualism matters – Antonella Sorace

Famil Ismailov speaks on today's Russian-speaking international media. The presentation was a part of the ‘Transnational and Diasporic Russophone Media in the UK and Beyond’ international workshop, supported by the AHRC OWRI research project 'Global Russians: Transnational Russophone Networks in the UK' (PI Prof Lara Ryazanova-Clarke).

The Russian-Speaking International Media Today: Challenges and Dilemmas

Caroline de Guitaut and Stephen Patterson provide an informative preview of the exhibition due to open at the Queen's Gallery at Palace of Holyroodhouse on 21 June 2019.

Russia: Art, Royalty and the Romanovs - The Exhibition through Curators' Eyes

For over 30 years Sherard Cowper-Coles was on the diplomatic front line in a distinguished Foreign Office career that took him from the corridors of power in Whitehall to a string of high-profile posts across the globe.

Entering the Foreign Office fresh from Oxford in 1977, he enjoyed a meteoric rise with postings in Beirut, Alexandria and Cairo, Washington, and Paris, and working on Hong Kong, punctuated with spells in London, where the young diplomat had a baptism of fire writing foreign affairs speeches for Geoffrey Howe and Margaret Thatcher.

In 1999, he was made Principal Private Secretary to the irascible Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, providing the book with some of its most hilarious sequences, and his glittering career culminated in a succession of ambassadorial posts as Our Man in Israel, Saudi Arabia and finally Afghanistan.

‘Ever the Diplomat’ is his revealing, passionate and witty account of half a lifetime in diplomacy, which is set to become a classic of the genre.

Buy 

Ever the Diplomat: Confessions of a Foreign Office Mandarin written and read by Sherard Cowper-Coles

This episode brings into conversation Professor Cynthia Enloe, eminent feminist scholar and scholar on militarisation and global politics with Dr Amanda Chisholm, Senior Lecturer on Gender and Security at King's College London (KCL) and Dr Marsha Henry, Assistant Professor in the Gender Department at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Podcast: Feminism, International Relations and Global Security - A Conversation with Cynthia Enloe

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) was established in 1988 as an independent think-tank to study and generate public policy ideas in Singapore. IPS became an autonomous research centre of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore in 2008. Today, IPS continues to analyse public policy, build bridges between thought leaders, and communicate its findings to a wide audience. The Institute examines issues of critical national interest across a variety of fields, and studies the attitudes and aspirations of Singaporeans through surveys of public perception. It adopts a multi-disciplinary approach in its analyses and takes the long-term view in its strategic deliberation and research.