Book Launch: Out of Chaos – A Global History of the Nation State

On 30 September 2026, the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CoHASS) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) hosted the book launch of Out of Chaos: A Global History of the Nation State, the latest work by Professor Jon Wilson, Tan Kah Kee Professor and Dean of CoHASS. 

The event brought together scholars and members of the NTU community for a discussion on the origins of the modern nation-state and the historical forces that shaped the political order of the contemporary world. 

Rethinking the origins of the nation-state 

In Out of Chaos, Professor Wilson challenges conventional accounts of the nation-state as a political form that developed gradually from European and American precedents before spreading across the world. 

Instead, he argues that the modern nation-state emerged rapidly in the aftermath of the Second World War. In 1945, political leaders and observers did not necessarily expect the nation-state to become the dominant form of political organisation. Empires and federations remained important models for organising political authority. 

The devastation left by the war, however, created an urgent need to establish new forms of political order. Across continents, political actors confronted famine, partition, civil conflict and the challenges of decolonisation. Against this backdrop, the nation-state emerged through a process of negotiation, conflict and improvisation. 

Professor Wilson’s account therefore places the emergence of the nation-state within a global history rather than treating it as the culmination of a primarily Western historical trajectory. 

A global process shaped by competing visions 

A central theme of Out of Chaos is the diversity of political actors involved in shaping the postwar order. The emergence of the nation-state was not simply imposed by a single group of powers. Rather, it developed through interactions between different political movements and competing visions of how societies should be organised. 

The nation-state ultimately provided a political form that could accommodate actors with very different ideological positions, including communists and capitalists, as well as colonisers and colonised people. 

This history also highlights the contingency of the political order that exists today. Rather than being an inevitable outcome of historical development, the contemporary system of nation-states was shaped by decisions, compromises and circumstances during a period of profound global upheaval. 

Reflections from scholars across history and international affairs 

Following Professor Wilson’s presentation, the book’s arguments were discussed by Professor Tan Tai Yong, President of Singapore University of Social Sciences; Professor Srinath Raghavan, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; and Associate Professor Kei Koga from NTU’s Public Policy and Global Affairs Programme. 

The discussion was moderated by Dr Swapna Kona Nayudu, Principal Research Fellow at College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and Deputy Director of NTU’s Global Asia Research Centre. 

The panel offered perspectives from history, international relations and political affairs, situating Professor Wilson’s arguments within wider questions about decolonisation, international order and the evolution of states in Asia and beyond. 

The conversation also highlighted the importance of examining the origins of contemporary political institutions historically. Understanding how the nation-state emerged provides a lens through which to consider why it has remained the basic unit of global political organisation, as well as how it has accommodated competing political and social visions. 

Continuing conversations on global history 

The launch of Out of Chaos reflects CoHASS’ commitment to bringing together scholarship across disciplines to examine the historical forces that continue to shape the contemporary world. 

By tracing the nation-state to the upheavals and political negotiations of the postwar period, Professor Wilson’s book invites readers to reconsider familiar assumptions about the origins of modern political order. 

Out of Chaos: A Global History of the Nation State is published by Oxford University Press.