Peter Sinclair Town Hall Lecture: Vernon Bogdanor (King's College London)

Was Brexit an aberration or does it reveal real weaknesses in the European Union? Brexit challenges the ideology of Europe.

It is, after all, a serious matter for any international organisation when a major member state decides to leave. The central problem for the European Union is that it has been unable to represent the people of Europe effectively. How can it turn itself from a technocratic organisation into a more democratic one? That is the question which Vernon Bogdanor will seek to answer.​ 

There will be the opportunity to ask questions at the end (or submit questions in advance to R.L.McDonald@bham.ac.uk). 

This event is available via Zoom. It is the fifth Peter Sinclair Town Hall lecture hosted by the Department of Economics at the University of Birmingham.

About the speaker

Vernon Bogdanor CBE, FBA is a research professor at the Centre for British Politics and Government. He was formerly Professor of Government at Oxford University, and Senior Tutor and Vice-Principal at Brasenose College.

He has written widely on government and politics, including books The People and the Party System, Monarchy and the Constitution, and Power and the People: A Guide to Constitutional Reform. Most recently, he has edited a book on The British Constitution in the Twentieth Century and written on The New British Constitution. He has been an adviser to government and parliamentary bodies on many occasions, and in 1998 was awarded the CBE for services to constitutional history. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

About the lecture series

The Peter Sinclair Town Hall lecture series features world class economists presenting their research and its real world implications to an audience of academic economists, economics students, and the wider community. The lectures are diverse in topic but united in that they bring the lens of economics to real world issues, demonstrating how economics can be both useful and a force for good in understanding and shaping the world. The lecture series is inspired by and commemorates Emeritus Professor Peter Sinclair, whose breadth of knowledge, curiosity, and kindness inspired his students and colleagues immeasurably.