Perspectives on Peace: a conversation with Kishore Mahbubani

Series Patron Kishore Mahbubani joined College President Carma Elliot in a discussion on peace as a final event to mark the UWCSEA community celebration of UWC Day in Singapore. UWC Day is celebrated across the UWC movement annually on 21 September, in honour of the UN's International Day of Peace.

At the start of the evening, UWCSEA was proud to announce a partnership with National University of Singapore’s (NUS), Asian Peace Programme (APP). Together, UWCSEA and APP will establish a 1-year research-based fellowship position at the APP with a focus on discussion and research about peace, peace building and conflict on ASEAN and SEA. In addition, the UWCSEA student community can participate in an essay competition which will empower the Colleges’ young people to write and publish a piece on the topic of peace. This partnership, which is part of UWCSEA's commitment to Singapore in the current programme of 50th anniversary celebrations and events, will play an important role in UWCSEA’s ambitions to reimagine education, with APP and UWCSEA united in their mission to understand and promote peace and peacebuilding initiatives in Asia.

Kishore and Carma engaged in a wide-ranging discussion on peace, covering themes including the influences of internationalism, how changes in our global geo-political landscape have shifted the balances of power, the effect of the shifts in China's relationship with the world, and the increasing role of regional cooperation in international peace.

The event concluded with a live audience Q&A moderated by Nick Alchin, Head of East Campus, who posed questions from the online audience as well as from the small live audience of East Campus High School students and staff.