Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff, PCis a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has held senior academic posts at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and Toronto...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth12 May 1947
CountryCanada
bosnian happened historical huge war
I was with the U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on the day that Srebrenica fell, which happened to be a huge historical turning point in the Bosnian war.
allow authority dictate electorate face global instant rejection remains system ultimate
Ultimate authority in a global system remains with sovereigns. Governments will not have it any other way: politicians face instant rejection from their electorate if they allow transnational authorities to dictate terms.
founding james laws learned lincoln understood
Lincoln was not an intellectual, but no one in 200 years understood the language of the King James Bible or learned Blackstone's Laws of England, or Cicero, or the language of the Founding Fathers, better than he did.
bothered criticize faith five good half message politics reasonable thinking
I went into politics thinking that, if I made arguments in good faith, I'd get a hearing. It's a reasonable assumption, but it's wrong. In five and a half years in politics up north, no one really bothered to criticize my ideas, such as they were. It was never my message that was the issue. It was always the messenger.
harry truman
Some of our finest leaders were not intellectuals at all, and I admire them enormously because they weren't. Harry Truman wasn't.
almost canadian-politician country defined feeling intense national
Nationalism could almost be defined as intense national feeling for a country that does not yet exist, or for someone else's country.
appears canadian-politician chief concern giving moral precision weapons
My chief concern about the way we're going is that new technology, precision weapons technology, appears to be giving us a new moral alibi.
criticism learn promises respect toward work
I respect the work Mr. Harper has done to learn French, to make a 'gesture' toward Quebec. My criticism of him is that he's making promises I don't think he can keep.
invest learn listen
We have to invest in Saskatchewan and . . . listen to Saskatchewan . . . and learn from Saskatchewan.
against enduring few figures general history human ignored imagination raphael revolt unending western whose word
If the history of the western moral imagination is the story of an enduring and unending revolt against human cruelty, there are few more consequential figures than Raphael Lemkin - and few whose achievements have been more ignored by the general public. It was he who coined the word 'genocide.' He was also its victim.
african democratic
For every African state, like Ghana, where democratic institutions seem secure, there is a Mali, a Cote d'Ivoire, and a Zimbabwe, where democracy is in trouble.
bank believe developing economic force fund medicine monetary nations throats united
Conservatives believe that international institutions such as the United Nations are anti-American and anti-Israeli cabals. Progressives do not like the economic medicine that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank force down the throats of developing countries.
canadian-politician masters
What we want is to become masters in our own house.
felt written
'Scar Tissue' is the only book I've ever written when I've felt completely toxic, ill.