“Genocide is not just a murderous madness; it is, more deeply, a politics that promises a utopia beyond politics - one people, one land, one truth, the end of difference. Since genocide is a form of political utopia, it remains an enduring temptation in any multiethnic and multicultural society in crisis.”

Canadian author, academic and former politician, born 1947

Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic, and former politician. Born in 1947, he served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2011. He is known first as a historian, and his academic career has included senior posts at Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and the University of Toronto. More recently, he served as rector and president of Central European University from 2016 to 2021. His public life has moved between scholarship and politics, with writing and ideas at the center of both.