John Keane
Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney
6 episodes
Covers topics in categories such as:
Edmund Burke
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work of the philosopher, politician and writer Edmund Burke, whose views on revolution in America and France were hugely influential.
3 June 2010
Also featuring: Karen O'Brien, Richard Bourke
PhilosophySocial philosophersPhilosophers of historyPhilosophers of religionPhilosophers of culturePhilosophers of education18th-century philosophersPhilosophers of economicsNatural law ethicistsPolitical philosophersPhilosophers of artVirtue ethicistsClassical liberalism18th-century English male writersAlumni of Trinity College DublinHistorians of the French Revolution18th-century English writersEnglish libertariansIrish AnglicansBritish political philosophersEnglish people of Irish descentWriters from Dublin (city)StreathamitesAnglican philosophersConservatismCritics of deismRectors of the University of GlasgowBritish MPs 1774–178018th-century English philosophers18th-century Irish philosophersMembers of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies, British MPs 1780–178418th-century Anglo-Irish people, 18th-century Irish writers, 18th-century Irish male writersBritish MPs 1790–1796, British MPs 1784–1790Irish Freemasons, Irish people of English descent, Irish libertariansThe Statue of Liberty
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Statue of Liberty, given by France to America as a token of revolutionary kinship.
14 February 2008
Also featuring: Robert Gildea, Kathleen Burk
Anarchism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Anarchism and why its political ideas became synonymous with chaos and disorder.
7 December 2006
Also featuring: Ruth Kinna, Peter Marshall
Freedom
Melvyn Bragg discusses what it is to be free, how freedom became such a powerful value and whether there is such a thing as natural freedom or if it is always culturally defined.
4 July 2002
Also featuring: Bernard Williams, Annabel Brett
The American Ideal
Melvyn Bragg examines what underwrites the idealism of America that has driven its enormous cultural, economic and diplomatic influence across the globe. Was it ever ideal and is it ideal any longer?
1 June 2000
Also featuring: Christopher Hitchens, Susan Sontag
Just War
Melvyn Bragg examines where the idea of a just war originated and whether after over 100 years of almost unimaginably violent conflict, the term has any meaning at all.
3 June 1999
Also featuring: Niall Ferguson