What went wrong? The liberal international order had such promise. It began with the noblest of intentions, to establish a new era of peace on the bedrock of human dignity. After the wreckage of the World Wars there seemed little alternative. Spheres of influence, power balancing, empire: all had had their day and been found…
Tag: liberal internationalism
H-Diplo|RJISSF Roundtable 15-28 on Lieber, Indispensable Nation
What is the optimal role for the United States in contemporary geopolitics? Robert Lieber, a distinguished emeritus professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University and a specialist on American foreign policy, gives a succinct answer in the title to a slender but pithy monograph: Indispensable Nation. Lieber’s title borrows from the moniker that…
Policy Series 2021-11: “America First” Meets Liberal Internationalism
Candidate Trump, and then President Trump, advocated for a dramatic change in the direction of American foreign policy, which he labelled “America First.” His vision stood in stark contrast to the liberal internationalism (LI) pursued by most presidents since World War II. For Trump, unilateralism would replace multilateralism; retrenchment would replace global engagement; pursuit of…
Policy Series: The “Global Order” Myth
During the Age of Trump, Year One, a single word has emerged to capture the essence of the prevailing cultural mood: resistance. Words matter, and the prominence of this particular term illuminates the moment in which we find ourselves.
Policy Series: “The End of American Liberal Internationalism?”
One hundred years ago this month, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was agonizing over whether to enter World War I. Just a few months earlier, Wilson had won re-election partly by campaigning on a policy of neutrality, which he was now preparing to abandon, along with the slogan ‘America first.’ But now, for the first time…
Policy Roundtable 1-6: Is Liberal Internationalism Still Alive?
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.[1]
Roundtable 2-4 on “Is Liberal Internationalism in Decline?”
This roundtable extends the debate on the future of liberal internationalism (LI) started by Charles Kupchan and Peter Trubowitz (K&T) three years ago which provoked responses by Steven Chaudoin, Helen Milner, and Dustin Tingley (CMT), and by Joshua Busby and Jonathan Monten (B&M).[1] This was the subject of a panel at a recent meeting of…