BBC Reith Lectures

Ben Ansell says politics is failing.

This year’s BBC Reith Lecturer is Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University and author of Why Politics Fails. He will deliver four lectures called “Our Democratic Future.”

In this series of Reith Lectures he’ll ask how we can build a politics that works for all of us with systems which are robust to the challenges of the 21st century, from climate change to artificial intelligence.

In this third lecture, Professor Ansell asks how we can develop a shared sense of belonging in today’s polarised societies. How can we ensure that we look after the less fortunate among us in an economy that seems only to reward the ‘already haves’? And he suggests what might work to underpin our sense of community – from universal basic income to civic nationalism.

A Q&A will follow the lecture and the evening is chaired by Anita Anand.

Tickets will be allocated by random draw. You can register at any time until 10pm on Sunday 22 October.

You can apply for a maximum of two tickets.

The Reith Lectures will be broadcast from 29 November 2023. Listen again to the Reith Lectures and download the podcast on the BBC Sounds app.