20/08/2026
Congratulations to Professor Jon Wilson, Dean of NTU College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CoHASS), on the publication of his new book, Out of Chaos: A Global History of the Nation State. ✨
In the book, Prof Wilson challenges conventional accounts of the nation state, tracing its emergence in the aftermath of World War II as political leaders sought to bring order to a world transformed by war, decolonisation and competing visions of political power.
Spanning movements and debates across the world, Out of Chaos explores how the nation state became the dominant form of political organisation — and why it remains a contested and influential force in global politics today.
𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤: 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬: 𝐀 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞
We are excited to share the publication of a new book by Professor Jon Wilson.
The modern world of nation states was an accidental outcome of the chaos following World War II, and not the product of centuries of Western development. Before the 1940s, empires and federations made up the world, and few believed that nations could serve as the foundations of political order. In this book, the author shows how the postwar crisis forced political leaders everywhere to search for a workable compromise. From Montevideo to Yogyakarta, New Delhi to Jerusalem, political leaders arrived at the same unexpected solution to divide the world, territories and economies into nation states. The movement was not imposed by any single power or ideology. There was never a US-led world order. Capitalist and communist states alike agreed to the nation state model, making the postwar world multipolar from the start. The process was chaotic and improvised, with limited agreement in underlying ideas. The competing visions of political organisations did not disappear, while people continued to be attached to their local communities. Out of Chaos empowers us to read today’s conflicts in the context of the messy, unplanned emergence of nation states from postwar crisis, radically reframing twentieth-century history.
Glowing reviews from leading scholars:
"A crucial intervention." – Faisal Devji, University of Oxford
"Brilliant, very necessary rethinking of global history." – David Edgerton
"A sparkling political history... full of telling historical vignettes." – Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Order your copy here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/out-of-chaos-9780192858672
