Philip Selznick (1919‐2010) was a major American sociologist, whose work spanned most of last century, dealt with many subjects 
and spanned several disciplinary and sub‐disciplinary domains. Central among them are general social theory, the sociology of 
organizations and institutions, communist organizational strategy, industrial relations, sociology of law; and also legal, moral and 
political philosophy. He produced a substantial and important body of writings which brought to all these various fields a distinctive 
combination of explanatory theory, empirical research, philosophical awareness, and normative engagement. He was a major figure 
in each of the fields he has touched, and one of very few to have been a participant, let alone influential, in them all. But while his 
name is well‐known, his work is more respected than emulated and today more known about, I suspect, than known; cited than 
read. And if read, it is in that truncated snapshot common in the social sciences, of piecemeal citation, where it doesn’t much matter 
whose the idea was, or how it relates to its author’s other ideas; the only questions are what it is, how it fits with current work in a 
particular field or sub‐field, and what we think of it. Applied to Selznick’s thought, this diminishes its significance, and misconstrues 
it. That seems to me a pity, and perhaps, to paraphrase Talleyrand, worse than a pity; a mistake. For beyond his many particular 
insights into the nature and quality of institutional, legal, and social life and development, there is his cast of mind; ways of thinking, 
animating concerns and values, and a distinctive (and fine) sensibility, that fuse humanist and scientific concerns without either 
embarrassment or false showmanship. Seventy years of his writings will be invoked to vindicate the claim. 

A sandwich lunch and refreshments will be served.

This seminar series explores the role the media play as political actors in developing countries and fragile states. It gathers scholars from a variety of disciplines to examine how old and new media are used to support different political agenda: from foreign countries trying to win the hearts and minds of a local population to local governments aiming at increasing their ability to communicate with, but also exercise control over, their citizens. Particular attention will be paid to understanding how flows of information can be mapped in contexts characterized by an increasing media density, resulting from the liberalization of the airwaves, the diffusion of mobile phones and new media, and the persistence of traditional modes of communication. The seminar series is part of a year-long programme of events organized by the Centre of Governance and Human Rights (CGHR) at the University of Cambridge, the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Politics (PCMLP), Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, at the University of Oxford and the Justice and Security Research Programme (JSRP) at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

All are welcome, please email iginio.gagliardone@csls.ox.ac.uk for further information

Organizers: Dr. Bettina Lange, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (bettina.lange@csls.ox.ac.uk), Asma
Vranaki (asma.vranaki@wolfson.ox.ac.uk), Andres Gonzalez-Watty (andres.gonzalez-
watty@wolfson.ox.ac.uk), Frances Foster-Thorpe (frances.foster-thorpe@law.ox.ac.uk)
 
All are welcome. Light refreshments afterwards.

A copy of his paper can be found here.