The Raffles Lecture Series

A decade ago there was talk of the "end of history". Francis Fukuyama assured us that no ideology, even Islamic ideology, could challenge the universalist claims of liberal democracy. Influential analysts spoke of an international convergence of value systems as well as economies. Today some have gone to the other extreme and accept the idea of a "clash of civilizations". At the very least, we can say history has returned with a vengeance.
           When commentators of a decade ago assumed change was moving in one direction, they tended to dismiss ASEAN as a "talk shop" and pour scorn on attempts to formulate "Asian values". Today, even tough-minded security specialists attend to specific vocabulary and nuances of the conversation of this region.
           What role will the historian play in this era of the return of history? Professor Anthony Milner, Basham Professor of Asian History and Dean of Asian Studies at the Australian National University, addresses this question. In 2002, Professor Milner was Raffles Visiting Professor in the Department of History at the National University of Singapore.