Chancellor's Lecture

'The return of history: Great power rivalry and the fragmentation of world order'

Join guest speaker General Sir Patrick Sanders KCB CBE DSO ADC Gen who will discuss history's everchanging political landscape, unpicking lessons from the past while analysing the present world order to discuss what it could all mean for us today.

Description:

After the Second World War, a period of remarkable stability emerged despite the intense, political Cold War tensions between the United States, the Soviet Union and their respective allies. While some conflicts occurred, they remained mainly – and surprisingly - on the fringes, due to the dominance of the United States.

However, today, that world order is breaking apart. While American, political scientist Francis Fukuyama famously argued in his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man that with the ascendancy of Western liberal democracy after the Cold War (1945–1991), and the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991), humanity had reached "not just... the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such” - this unfortunately now feels outdated.

In this fascinating talk, former Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Patrick Sanders one of the most decorated and military operationally experienced of his generation unpicks lessons from the past, while analysing the present world order to discuss what it all could mean for the 21st century.

General Sir Patrick Sanders

General Sanders recently stepped down as Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, he is the UK’s most experienced warfighting General on retirement. He was the youngest general in 50 years on appointment to his first 4* role to be tasked with forming the UK’s new Strategic Command. General Sanders also is an expert speaker on international security, geo-politics, cyber competition, Artificial Intelligence, strategic leadership, cultural transformation and mental health.

Biography

One of the most decorated and operationally experienced of his generation, General Sir Patrick Sanders has 40 years of experience as a military leader. During that time, he’s earned a DSO for leading his battalion under almost constant fire in Basra, and a CBE for commanding the UK Brigade in Afghanistan. He's also conducted tours of command on most UK operations since the end of the Cold War, including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, UK resilience and global counterterrorism, and international humanitarian operations in Africa; and been responsible for the direction of military operations in the Ministry of Defence, frequently sitting on COBR, the National Security Council, briefing the PM and Cabinet and accompanying the Prime Minister to war zones.

Spending the last five years as one of the UK’s defence chiefs, creating the new UK Strategic Command and then as the UK’s Army Chief, General Sanders is a respected military strategic thinker and leader, recognised internationally for leading the debate in Europe and, often controversially, in the UK, on the need to better prepare ourselves for deteriorating global threats.