The end of the world as we know it: how to survive (or even thrive) in the new global disorder
About the session
Scholars have long argued that we have entered a new geopolitical era. The labels vary: some describe an “age of transition” toward a “new world disorder,” others a “hard new world,” an era of “multipolarity,” or even an “age of strategic chaos.” Increasingly, political leaders are adopting similar language. In Germany, one chancellor has spoken of a radical turning point (Zeitenwende). His successor—formerly a committed trans-Atlanticist—has acknowledged that Europe must learn to stand on its own. This view is reinforced by the latest US National Security Strategy, its “Trump Corollary” to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, Washington’s new culture-war posture toward Europe, threats regarding Greenland, and the war against Iran.
Most recently, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a widely discussed speech, warned of “a rupture in the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality.” He urged middle powers such as Canada, Australia, and Japan to invest in collective “resilience” to balance the influence of great powers.
This roundtable brings together scholars from across the Faculty of Arts to examine both the diagnosis—what is happening to the international order and why—and the policy implications. How should Australia navigate this emerging geopolitical reality?
About the speakers
Professor Mark Edele
Mark Edele is Hansen Professor in History and Head of the History Program at the University of Melbourne. A historian of the Soviet Union and its successor states, he is one of the editors of Elements in Soviet and Post-Soviet History (Cambridge University Press). He teaches the histories of the Soviet Union, of the Second World War, and of dictatorship and democracy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His latest book, Russia’s War against Ukraine. The Whole Story, will be re-published in an updated and enlarged edition by Melbourne University Press in June 2026.
Dr Minerva Inwald
Dr Minerva Inwald is an Assistant Lecturer in Chinese History at the University of Melbourne. Her interdisciplinary research examines the politics of culture in socialist and postsocialist China. Dr Inwald’s work has been published in the journals Modern China and the Journal of Design History. Before joining the University of Melbourne, she held the Judith Neilson Postdoctoral Fellowship in Contemporary at UNSW, Sydney. Committed to promoting the knowledge of Asia in Australia, Dr Inwald has formerly served as Secretary of the Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Professor Timothy J. Lynch
Timothy J. Lynch is Professor of American Politics at the University of Melbourne. A regular contributor to The Australian, he is author of In the Shadow of the Cold War (Cambridge, 2020). Twice a Fulbright scholar, he serves on the board of the Robert Menzies Institute.
Associate Professor Terry Macdonald
Terry Macdonald is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Melbourne. She is author of Global Stakeholder Democracy (Oxford University Press 2008) and co-editor of Global Political Justice (Routledge 2017), and is currently completing a new book called Global Political Legitimacy: A Normative Theory of Pluralist World Order. Before joining the University of Melbourne, she held positions at Monash University, the Australian National University, and Merton College, Oxford University. She has a D.Phil and an M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford University (Nuffield College), and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Melbourne.
Professor Andrew Walter
Andrew Walter is Professor of International Relations at the University of Melbourne. His current research includes the politics of wealth, investment and national security, and finance in the energy transition.
Professor Sally Young
Sally Young is Professor of Australian History at the University of Melbourne. She specialises in political and media history, including political communication, journalism, election campaigns, media policy, political finance and electoral innovation. Sally is the author of the award-winning book Paper Emperors: The Rise of Australia’s Newspaper Empires (2019), a corporate and political history of Australian newspapers from 1803 to 1941, as well as its sequel, Media Monsters (2023), covering from 1941 to 1972. Sally has also published books on election reporting, press photography, political advertising and government communication. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, a research committee member of the Centre for Public Integrity and former editor-in-chief of the Australian Journal of Politics & History.
Further information
Sign up for our newsletter and stay connected with the latest updates from the Faculty of Arts.
The Faculty of Arts will collect and process your personal information to manage your registration and to contact you regarding an event once you have registered to attend. For further details on how your personal information is handled, please refer to Faculty of Arts Privacy Notice.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
Register
This event has passedRegister
This event has passed
More events from this host
