Oct 1 – The Frustrated World Order and the Choices for Small States: The Case of Singapore with Benjamin Ho

Thursday, October 1, 2026, 12:30 PM – 2 PM
121 Bay State Road, Boston MA

Please register here.

In recent years the issue of the rules-based order (RBO) has come under increased scrutiny with concerns that such an order is in danger of unraveling and uncertainty over what might come next. In this talk, Dr Benjamin Ho examines the “myth” of the RBO and argues that it has come under heightened stress because states are viewing their foreign policies through the vantage point of domestic myths. Using the case of Singapore, Ho will share insights on how the small city-state has attempted to navigate a frustrated world-order, including procuring for itself a sense of agency. By examining the founding myths of Singapore, Ho argues that the country has thus far weathered the political turbulence better than many due to its hyper-realist worldview of its leaders and leading thinkers; at the same time, its choices are also becoming increasingly constrained as great power competition are forcing small states to take sides. 

Speaker:

Dr Benjamin Ho is Assistant Professor and Coordinator at the China Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore. He is the author of the book China’s Political Worldview and Chinese Exceptionalism: International Order and Global Leadership (Amsterdam University Press, 2021) and is working on his second book project on Political Myths and International Order in Northeast Asia (with a focus on China, Japan and South Korea). He was a Fulbright scholar at the Elliot School of International Affairs (George Washington University between 2021-2022), a Taiwan MOFA Fellow at the Institute of Political Science Academia Sinica (Taiwan) in 2022 and a Republic of Korea-ASEAN Scholar at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in 2025.