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Previous Events
Thinking About International Relations: The Uses and Abuses of History
12:45, 3 Feb 2010RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
Link to map: multimap
About the event:
Professor Margaret MacMillan, Warden, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, will explore some of the ways in which history has been used and abused in the recent past.
History can be useful in international relations when it helps us to understand the motives, and the hopes and fears of others. It can be dangerous when it is used to mobilise hatreds or to justify unreasonable claims. Knowledge of the past can also be helpful to decision makers by offering instructive analogies and warning them of potentially dangerous outcomes in courses of action. Getting the right analogy is key; the wrong one can become an obstacle to clear thinking. In her lecture, Professor MacMillan will draw on examples from her work on the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the international relations of the 1920s and the Cold War.
Professor Margaret MacMillan became the fifth Warden of St Antony's College, University of Oxford in July 2007. She has held a number of senior academic positions including Provost of Trinity College and Professor of History at the University of Toronto. From 1975 until 2002 she was a member of the History Department at Ryerson University in Toronto and she also served as Chair of the Department. Her books include Women of the Raj (1988, 2007); Peacemakers: the Paris Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War (2001); Seize the Hour: Six Days that Changed the World (2006) and The Uses and Abuses of History (2008).
This event is open to all RUSI members.
An optional £10 sandwich lunch shall be available from 1215.
To register for this event please contact Sabrina Downey, Events Director, at sabrinad@rusi.org or call +44 (0)20 7747 2622.
Event manager: Sabrina Downey
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