Last week Professor Craig Calhoun, LSE Director, delivered a talk on ‘Why Nations Matter’. The event took place on Thursday 11 June at Fundacion Mies Van der Rohe, Barcelona, and it was organised by LSE, LSE Alumni in Spain and ALSEC (LSE Alumni Association of Catalonia).
It was chaired by Professor Paul Preston, Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies at LSE and focused on Professor Calhoun’s book with the same title. The talk pointed out the importance that nations have in this special period of globalisation and changes. The debate moved quickly to nationalism and specific areas of Catalan interest, with Professor Calhoun reiterating the integrated nature of modern existence. This means all people, cities, regions and nations are interdependent to a large extent, and need to function collectively to address issues like climate change, immigration and urban growth in the future.
