2023 Gareth Evans Oration delivered by Lord Chris Patten

Abstract

Chancellor of Oxford University and the last Governor of Hong Kong, Lord Chris Patten delivers the 2023 Gareth Evans Oration.

In his address, Lord Patten points out that "my generation is fortunate to have lived in the better half of the 20th century. It has been a little like living during the decades after the Congress of Vienna in the 19th century. There has been an effective world order which has, for most of us, ensured rising prosperity and peace. By the late 1980s some claimed that liberal democracy had triumphed everywhere. This was a rather rash prediction since we now see the splintering of the post war system of international order, the rise of China with all its consequences as well as an increase in the number of authoritarian states around the globe. With American leadership how can we ensure that liberal democracies are able to create a global partnership which does not exclude China and other authoritarians but ensures the survival and success of open societies."