The End of the Wilsonian Era

Mead, Walter R.

doi:10.31278/1810-6439-2021-19-2-184-202

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The pessimistic school argues that the liberal international order is in disorder (Haass 2018, 5), is heading towards its end (Mead 2021), is essentially a myth (Bacevich 2018;Allison 2018b), and was destined to collapse (Mearsheimer 2019). Niall Ferguson even paraphrases Voltaire's famous dictum about the Holy Roman Empire to classify the order as not liberal nor international and not even orderly and determine that it's already over (Ferguson and Zakaria 2019, 15-16).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brexit, the Rise of China, and the Future of the Liberal International Order and Great Power Competition

Pires

2022

Soc

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In the last decade, the European Union (EU), a bulwark of the liberal international order, has been subject to a high degree of turmoil resulting from various processes and crises and has witnessed the rise of national populism, of which Brexit was the main exponent. The leadership of the order was also impacted by the changes in the foreign policy of the United States of America (USA) effected by the Trump Administration. The USA, the United Kingdom (UK), and the EU are the leaders of the liberal zone of peace and if national populism structurally affects them the liberal international order could be seriously challenged. Among the various instances of national populism, Brexit remains a significant challenge to the EU and might greatly impact the liberal international order. By adopting an interpretivist methodology anchored in hermeneutics and in the methodological approach of emergent causation, this article seeks to understand how Brexit, as an internal challenge to the order, and the rise of China and other revisionist powers, as an external one, might influence the future of the liberal international order and great power competition. I argue that the news of the order’s death is greatly exaggerated, and that depending on British, German, and US variables, Brexit and the rise of China can either challenge or reinforce the liberal international order. Nevertheless, liberalism has a resilience no other political perspective has due to its innate ability for criticism and adaptation to change. Considering that the current liberal international order is a USA-led order, I argue that these are the two main variables concerning how Brexit might influence the liberal international order and how the order’s leading powers will adapt their strategies and foreign policies towards China and other revisionist powers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%