Margaret MacMillan - World Orders: Past, Present, and Future

We appear to be seeing the death of an international order that has survived, with ups and downs, since 1945. What is emerging is not yet clear, but we can no longer take for granted international institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation, the validity of international law and agreements, or even international norms. The United States - which has acted as the world’s hegemon for eighty years - appears to be returning to isolationism, while revisionist powers such as Russia act against what they see as a hostile liberal international order. This lecture uses history to help us understand our present situation by considering alternative orders, previous moments of crisis in the world, and the ways in which change comes. Finally, it asks what the future might hold.

Born in Toronto, Professor Margaret MacMillan is both one of the world's leading historians and one of the leading historians of the world. Professor Emerita of International History, former Warden of St Anthony's College, Oxford, and former Provost of Trinity College, Toronto, her work has focussed on international relations since the nineteenth century, the history of conflict and of the British Empire, alongside frequent departures into Canadian foreign policy and contemporary issues of national security. Perhaps her most celebrated work - Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War - was a global bestseller, and is now the standard text on the Treaty of Versailles. Other major works, including Nixon and Mao and The War that Ended Peace have been translated into more than twenty-six languages. Her latest book - War: How Conflict Shaped Us, was published in 2020. A major contributor to the world's press, she delivered the BBC's Reith Lectures in 2018 on stages from Ottawa to Beiruit, as well as the CBC's Massey Lectures in 2015. Prof Macmillan was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2015, a Companion of Honour in 2017, and a member of the Order of Merit in 2022. She holds honorary fellowships and degrees from institutions throughout the Western World.

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