Media » Videos »
Democracy is Failing the Planet
Published 13 February 2012 | St. James Ethics Centre – IQ2 Oz, ABC Big IDEAS
Why should we assume that democracy is the best of all political systems?
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Arab world demanding freedom and democracy. And countless numbers have been prepared to die in exercising these demands. But here, in the relative comfort of the Sydney Recital Centre, IQ2 panelists hammer each other in a robust debate as to whether democracy is failing the planet.
Chaired by Dr. Simon Longstaff, The Executive Director of the St James Ethics Centre
SPEAKERS: FOR
Professor Clive Hamilton
Public Ethics and Vice Chancellor, Charles Sturt University. Founder and former Executive director of The Australia Institute, a public interest think tank.
Cheryl Kernot
Leader of the Australian Democrats in the mid 1990′s and Shadow Labor minister for 3 years. Currently Director of Social Business at the Centre for Social Impact at UNSW.
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis
Joint Managing Director, Transfield Holdings and Founder of The New Democracy Foundation, researching new forms of government.
SPEAKERS: AGAINST
Professor John Keane
Professor of Politics at University of Sydney and at theWissenschaftszentrum Berlin and Director of the recently-founded Sydney Democracy Initiative.
Professor Steven Schwartz
Vice-Chancellor Macquarie University. His academic research spans clinical psychology, psychiatry, public health and medical decision making.
Martine Letts
Deputy Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy. Specialised in arms control and disarmament on postings in Geneva, Vienna and policy officer in the Dept. Of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Interview with Al Jazeera on Václav Havel (2)
Al Jazeera English talks to John Keane, Professor of politics at the University of Sydney about Václav Havel, 23 December 2011.
Interview with BBC World on Václav Havel
BBC World interviews talks to John Keane about Václav Havel, 23 December 2011.
Interview with SBS on Václav Havel
SBS World News Australia presenter Anton Enus talks to John Keane, Professor of politics at University of Sydney, 19 December 2011.
Interview with Al Jazeera on Václav Havel
Al Jazeera English talks to John Keane, Professor of politics at the University of Sydney about Václav Havel, 19 December 2011.
Democracy in the Age of Google, Facebook and WikiLeaks
This is a lecture delivered by John Keane on May 18, 2011 at University of Melbourne. Read the full text of the talk.
John Keane interviews Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens
Professor John Keane is in conversation with Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens. This conversation is not meant to be a traditional political interview. It is a discussion between a leading academic and a senior elected representative about developments in Australian, and international, public life. It touches on a wide range of themes including:
Who holds power in media and how they exercise it
The role of the Fourth Estate, in particular the Murdoch press (Bob Brown: “I will take them on”)
- How the ABC “feeds straight off” The Australian and News Ltd stories
- How democracy is undermined by those who can buy influence, such as Gina Rinehart
- How lobbyists lay siege to politicians who attend the Press Gallery’s Mid Winter Ball
- Why debate on climate change is so poor
- Holding the balance of power in the Senate
There are three short videos included in this text.
The Rise and Fall of Democracies
At the Byron Bay Writers Festival, in conversation with Griffith Review Editor Julianne Schultz, Professor John Keane talks us through the rise and fall of democracies and empires, from a primarily historical perspective.
At the Melbourne Writers Festival
John Keane joins a Q and A panel at the Melbourne Writers Festival.
Panellists: Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser; author Jessica Rudd; author and political historian John Keane; biographer and commentator Christine Wallace; and Chris Berg, research fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs.
America: A ‘Democratic Empire’ In Decline?
August 2 2010 Byron Bay Writers Festival for FORA.tv