BOOK TALK
Speaker: Professor Patrick O’Sullivan, Author & Adjunct Professor of Political Economy, University of Warsaw; Visiting Professor, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
Moderator: Distinguished Professor Dato' Dr. Rajah Rasiah, Executive Director, Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya
Date: 16 June 2026 (Tuesday)
Time: 10:00 am
Venue: Resource Centre, Asia-Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya
Registration: Click here for online registration form
The contemporary geopolitical order is marked by profound instability: international law appears fractured and largely ineffective, and might is often right as power prevails over principle. This seminar presents and discusses the forthcoming Palgrave Macmillan book, Overcoming Gangsterism and Geo-Political Anarchy: The Case for a Supranational World Order (O’Sullivan, Ricci & Ngau, 2026), which identifies one fundamental cause of this apparent anarchy, the absence of genuine enforcement power in international institutions, combined with the entrenched premise of absolute national sovereignty.
Drawing on the political philosophies of Hobbes and Kant, the authors advance a bold proposal: the creation of a supranational world authority endowed with real enforcement powers, to which states would voluntarily cede limited but essential aspects of sovereignty in the interests of global peace and shared interdependent challenges. Far from being utopian, this vision finds precedent in, and could be modelled upon, the European Union, whose supranational institutions offer both lessons and cautionary tales for designing such a global framework.
The talk will explore the book’s core arguments in the context of contemporary geopolitical turbulence, with particular attention to the relevance of the EU and ASEAN models for regional and global governance in the 21st century.
| 9:30 AM | Arrival of guests & registration |
| 10:00 AM | Welcoming Remarks by Dr. Adil Bin Johan, Deputy Executive Director (Academics and Student Affairs) Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya. |
| 10:10 AM |
Book Talk by Professor Patrick O’Sullivan, Author & Adjunct Professor of Political Economy, University of Warsaw; Visiting Professor, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge Moderator: Distinguished Professor Dato' Dr. Rajah Rasiah, Executive Director, Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya. |
| 11:15 AM | Q & A Session |
| 11:45 AM | Presentation of Token & Photography session |
| 12:00 PM | End of Program |
Professor Patrick O'Sullivan is an internationally distinguished academic specialising in Business Ethics and Political Economy. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warsaw, Visiting Professor at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and Visiting Professor at the Università degli Studi di Parma.
With over 40 years of academic experience, Professor O'Sullivan has held senior positions at leading institutions including Grenoble Ecole de Management, where he served as Senior Professor of Business Ethics and Political Economy, Head of Department, and Academic Programme Director. Earlier in his career, he held academic and administrative appointments at Cardiff University Business School and the European Business School in Parma, Italy.
His research focuses on the intersection of philosophy, politics, and economics, with particular interests in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, geopolitics, and social progress measurement. He has collaborated with the Social Progress Index initiative led by Professor Michael Porter of Harvard University and has published extensively in leading journals and academic books.
A committed international educator, Professor O'Sullivan has taught, conducted research, and developed academic partnerships across Europe and Asia, contributing significantly to global academic collaboration and interdisciplinary scholarship.
Distinguished Professor Dato’ Dr. Rajah Rasiah obtained his doctorate in economics from Cambridge University in 1992 and served as a fellow at Harvard University in 2014. He was also the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at UNIMAS (1999-2000), and at Faculty of Economics and Administration in the University of Malaya in 2009–2010 and 2013–2014. He also holds professorial fellow positions at the Centre for Rising Powers in Cambridge University, UNU-MERIT, and Technology Management and Development Centre in Oxford University. Among his prestigious awards include the Cambridge Journal of Economics Award by the Cambridge Political Economy Trust in 1992, the Robert McNamara Award by the World Bank in 1993, the Celso Furtado Prize for advancing the frontiers of Social Science thought (Economics) from the World Academy of Sciences in 2014, and the Merdeka Prize under the category of scholastic achievement in 2018 from the Merdeka Prize Committee. He was awarded the Distinguished Professor of Economics Position by the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia in 2017.
Last Update: 15/06/2026