Prof. Penslar, Prof. Yadgar, and Prof. Peleg will discuss some fundamental themes in Israel Studies through their recently published books:

Professor Derek Penslar, Zionism: An Emotional State (Key Words in Jewish Studies), New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 2023
Professor Yaacov Yadgar, To Be a Jewish State: Zionism as the New Judaism, New York, NYU Press, 2024
Professor Yaron Peleg, New Hebrews: Making National Culture in Zion, Cambridge University Press, 2025

Balliol Philosophy Society is pleased to host a panel discussion and Q&A with four prominent critics of the use of public health policy during the Covid-19 pandemic. Open to all members of the university.

This paper discusses how to build a simple model of the optimal policy responses to a temporary rise in energy prices, a situation like that caused by the war in Ukraine. The objective is to avoid the emergence of a wage price spiral, in the presence of the kind of real-wage resistance which has been shown to be empirically important, and yet also to avoid large increases in interest rates. We believe that this outcome might have been achieved by means of a very large cut in consumption taxes (or a very large subsidy to energy supply).

Revolutionary democratic movements seek to overturn autocratic institutions and transform the underlying distribution of political power. In this paper, we provide evidence on how inclusive revolutionary dynamics reinforce de jure democratic reforms and strengthen state capacity. We study Nepal’s People’s War, which overthrew a 240-year caste-based monarchy and established a federal democracy.

In this talk, we present our interdisciplinary approach to AI regulation by updating purpose limitation for AI. We address a critical blind spot in EU digital legislation: the secondary use of anonymised training data and pre-trained AI models. These forms of reuse–currently outside the scope of regulatory frameworks such as the GDPR and the AI Act–pose significant risks to individuals and society, including discrimination, erosion of public trust and the exacerbation of power asymmetries.

Historian Phil Tinline will be in conversation with the audience, discussing how the United States ended up enmeshed in conspiracy theories, with many believing the country is run by an malignant ‘deep state’? Drawing on his acclaimed new book, Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax That Duped America and Its Sinister Legacy, this event explores the story of an extraordinary satirical spoof, the light it sheds on Americans’ vexed relationship with truth and power and the lessons for our wider political environment.