The Crisis of the Conservative International Order with Professor Michael C Williams

When: Tuesday, February 18, 2025, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Where: BLOC Cinema, ArtsOne Building, Mile End

The crisis of the liberal international order (LIO) is the dominant narrative of our time. It pervades scholarship, journalism, and policy discussion, influencing the ways we see contemporary global tensions, future possibilities, and political choices. In this talk, Professor Michael C Williams will argue that what we are seeing is not simply a crisis of the LIO, but of the CIO – the conservative international order.

The postwar order was not constructed by liberals alone. It was also built by conservative governments, politicians, and intellectuals that were crucial parts of the domestic and international accommodations, coalitions, and alliances underpinning the creation and maintenance of the postwar order. The crisis we are witnessing today is, in turn, to a large degree the result of the implosion that has transformed conservatism from a supporter of that order to one of its most powerful opponents.