Power and Impunity: what Donald Trump and Boris didn’t learn from the Ancient Greeks

Contributor(s): Professor Michael Cox, Professor Simon Goldhill, Dr Johanna Hanink | Are we living in a world marked by a new impunity of power? Political leaders discard established norms and taboos that have guided the behaviour of their predecessors and, in doing so, they win popular support from new areas of society, including the disengaged and excluded. How did we get here? Our notions of the good society, of the responsibility that comes with power, and, of course, democracy and its discourse, stem from ancient and classical Greece. Aristotle, Pericles, Plato, and Socrates etc. have shaped our political thinking, processes and systems. Our deepest sense of Western values, embedded in education curricula across our societies, emanates from classical Athens. Is it no longer of use or value? Are we now judging utility and cost differently? This panel will bring together a set of experts to address these issues from different vantage points.
Meet our speakers and chair
Michael Cox i