Michael Ignatieff is 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 University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Harvard University, and the University of Toronto. While living in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 2000, he became well known as a television and radio broadcaster and as an editorial columnist for The Observer. His documentary series Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism aired on BBC in 1993 and won a Canadian Gemini Award. His book of the same name, based on the series, won the Gordon Montador Award for Best Canadian Book on Social Issues and the University of Toronto’s Lionel Gelber Prize.

Ignatieff has contributed articles to publications including the Globe and Mail, New Republic, and New York Times Magazine. His recent books include The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror (2004), American Exceptionalism and Human Rights (ed.) (2005), and True Patriot Love (2009).

Ignatieff was co-chair, with Harold Hongju Koh, of the first three workshops of the Richard C. Holbrooke Forum at the American Academy in Berlin, and the Global Migration Crisis workshop at The Brookings Institution.