President Trump claims to be a great peacemaker, deserving of a Nobel Prize. The fact that he did not receive one led him to claim that he no longer “feels an obligation to think purely of Peace”. At the same time, he explained that his insistence on “Complete and Total Control of Greenland” was because it was “Psychologically important for me”. He has also said “I don’t need international law” and that the only constraint to his power as president of the US was “my own morality, my own mind”.

Even by the standards of the first and second Trump presidencies these extraordinary statements are absurd. They are also deadly serious as his subsequent ‘excursions’ into Venezuela and Iran have proved. What are the motivations behind these threats and actions, and is the so-called post-1945 “rules-based order” really at risk of being undone? Trump’s foreign policies are very undesirable and dangerous, but the American-led world order may have more staying power than many commentators think or wish for.

Join the Rotary Club of Sydney’s Peacebuilding Group for an incisive session with Professor Brendon O’Connor, expert in US Politics and Foreign Relations. He will unpack the motivations behind these extraordinary statements, consider recent events, and assess the real prospects for peace in our radically changing world.

This event goes beyond headlines to provide nuanced understanding of drivers shaping international relations today.

About the Speaker:
Brendon O’Connor is a Professor of US Politics and US Foreign Relations. He is the editor of seven books on anti-Americanism and has also published articles and books on American welfare policy, presidential politics, US foreign policy, and Australian-American relations.

Contact the host of Trump's Nobel Ambition: Testing the Limits of the Rules-Based Order