Lectures on Transformations and Challenges in Contemporary Western Societies: Technology, Politics and Public Life
NJU International Fellowship Initiative Lecture
Topics, Time and Locations:
Topic: America
Time: May 14, 2026 (Thursday), 16:00–18:00
Location: Room 321, Shengda Building, Xianlin Campus
Topic: Demagogues
Time: May 18, 2026 (Monday), 16:00–18:00
Location: Room 321, Shengda Building, Xianlin Campus
Topic: Artificial Intelligence?
Time: May 21, 2026 (Thursday), 16:00–18:00
Location: Room 321, Shengda Building, Xianlin Campus
Topic: The Spirit of Democracy
Time: May 25, 2026 (Monday), 16:00–18:00
Location: Room 321, Shengda Building, Xianlin Campus
Topic: The Beautification of 21st-Century Wars
Time: May 28, 2026 (Thursday), 16:00–18:00
Location: Room 309, School of Journalism & Communication, Xianlin Campus
Topic: The Precarious Role of Scholars in Western Universities: Personal Reflections
Time: June 1, 2026 (Monday), 16:00–18:00
Location: Room 321, Shengda Building, Xianlin Campus
Speaker: Professor John Keane, Uniersity of Sydney
Born in southern Australia, John Keane is Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney. He first studied Politics, Government and History at the University of Adelaide, winning the Tinline Prize for a First Class Honours with Highest Distinction (1971). He won a Commonwealth Fellowship to study at the University of Toronto, where in the fields of philosophy and political economy he was awarded a doctorate and mentored and supervised by C.B. Macpherson. He later held a post-doctoral fellowship at King’s College, at the University of Cambridge, where he worked closely with Anthony Giddens, Quentin Skinner and other leading scholars.
In the spring of 1989, he founded the world's first democracy research institute, the London-based Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD). He later directed the Sydney Democracy Network, a network of researchers, activists and policy makers concerned with the future of democracy and, most recently, designed and launched the global platform Democracy Lighthouse. For over two decades, he held the position of Distinguished Research Professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), one of Europe's largest and most respected social science research institutions.
John Keane is renowned globally for his creative thinking about politics, history, media and democracy, and is the author of many distinguished books including the best-selling Tom Paine: A Political Life (1995), Reflections on Violence (1996), Václav Havel: A Political Tragedy in Six Acts (1999), The Life and Death of Democracy (2009), which was short-listed for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, Democracy and Media Decadence (2013), When Trees Fall, Monkeys Scatter (2017), Power and Humility (2018) and The New Despotism (2020). His books have been translated into more than three dozen languages, and his interviews and other contributions have been published on global platforms such as The New York Times, Al Jazeera, the Times Literary Supplement, Financial Times, The Guardian, Die Zeit, Hindustan Times and the South China Morning Post. His experimental 'Democracy Field Notes' series on the Melbourne-based The Conversation has attracted well over one million readers.
