Book Launch: Out of Chaos - A Global History of The Nation State

Join us for the launch of Out of Chaos: A Global History of the Nation State (published by Oxford University Press) by Professor Jon Wilson, Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CoHASS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Out of Chaos offers a new account of how the nation state emerged after 1945 — not over centuries, but in a rush. Built from conversation and conflicts across every continent, it was intended to bring order amidst famine, partition and civil war.

The book explores how the nation state became the basic unit of world society and why it has endured as a political form that can contain multiple competing visions of the future at once.

What does this improvisation mean for the political order we live in today?

At the launch, Professor Jon Wilson will explore the making of the present-day world order and its significance for the way we see political order today.

The talk will be followed by comments from Professor Tan Tai Yong, Professor Srinath Raghavan and Associate Professor Kei Koga, with the discussion moderated by Dr Swapna Kona Nayudu.

Date: Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Time: 5.30pm–7.00pm
Venue: Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan Building, HSS Auditorium, B1-14, Nanyang Technological University, 48 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798

Copies of the book will be available to purchase at a discounted rate.