Beveridge's Sixth Giant

Beveridge's "Five Giants" remain central issues in discussions about the welfare state today, but there are also new challenges that have emerged since the 1940s. Which "Giant" issue would a modern day Beveridge prioritise? 

Having polled LSE students, staff and alumni for their suggestions as to Beveridge’s missing giants, the sixth giant will be selected from one of the following: Sustainability, Equity, Isolation, Security, Extremism. You decide. From early February you will be able to vote on which of these giant issues should take its place alongside Beveridge’s giants. In this event, on the opening night of the LSE Festival, prominent LSE academics will put forward their pitch for the missing giants on the shortlist.

Sam Fankhauser is Director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Deputy Director of the ESRC-funded Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, both at LSE. He is also an Associate Director at economics consultancy Vivid Economics and a Non-Executive Director of CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution. Before joining LSE, Sam worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility. From 2008 to 2016 he was a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change. Sam has studied economics at the University of Berne (Switzerland), LSE and University College London.

Fawaz A Gerges is Professor of International Relations at LSE, and holder of the Emirates Professorship in Contemporary Middle East Studies. He was also the inaugural Director of the LSE Middle East Centre from 2010 until 2013. Gerges’ most recent books include ISIS: A History and the forthcoming Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb and the Clash That shaped the Middle East.

Naila Kabeer is Professor of Gender and Development at the Department of Gender Studies and Department of International Development.  Her research interests include gender, poverty, social exclusion, labour markets and livelihoods, social protection and citizenship and much of her research is focused on South and South East Asia. Naila is currently involved in ERSC-DIFD Funded Research Projects on Gender and Labour Market dynamics in Bangladesh and India. 

Richard Layard is Director of the Wellbeing program at the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE and author of of The Origins of Happiness.

Jennifer Jackson-Preece is an Associate Professor of Nationalism, with a joint appointment in both the European Institute and the Department of International Relations, LSE. She is Deputy Head of the European Institute.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEBeveridge #LSEFestival

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0 running from Monday 19 to Saturday 24 February 2018, with a series of events rethinking the welfare state for the 21st century and the global context. The full programme will be online in January 2018.