From natural disasters to deadly diseases to wars,
the world can be a turbulent, even chaotic place.
But around 75 years ago, a new system was imagined
to temper this turbulence and improve the lives of many.
It is called the Liberal World Order.
It is a liberal system in the sense that it operates on rules
that are in theory, applied to each country equally,
and that it encourages each country to be democratic
and to open its economy to the rest of the world.
It is a global system in that every country around the world is
encouraged to join and follow those rules, even if some do not.
And it is a system that promotes order in that most countries
that buy into it, respect the borders of other countries,
and seek to resolve their differences peacefully.
It was developed in an
effort to avoid repeating the major man made disasters
of the first half of the 20th century, the Great Depression
and two World Wars.
Following World War two, the United States,
along with several other countries, started drafting an aspirational blueprint
for what later became known as the Liberal World Order
by establishing certain international institutions.
The United Nations was built to promote peace between countries.
The World Bank would support global economic development
and the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade, which later became the World Trade
Organization, would support investment and trade between countries.
While these institutions provided the blueprint for the liberal world order,
the system was really powered by the United States.
It's victory in World War Two and booming postwar economy.
Set an example for the rest of the world.
The U.S.
credited democracy and free markets for its success
and urged other countries to become more democratic
and to build economies that were open to trade and investment.
Oftentimes the U.S.
would offer financial aid to other countries on the condition
that they make such liberal reforms.
At the same time, the United States military strength
and global network of alliances helped maintain order.
If any country tried to undermine the system
or threaten to invade one of its allies, the U.S.
was ready to apply economic pressure or stop them
with military force, though it wasn't the only one.
The illiberal Soviet Union was the most powerful country
to opt out of the liberal world order.
While it was a member
of the United Nations and other international institutions,
it had no interest in becoming more liberal or democratic.
Instead, the Soviet Union was focused on building its own order
and promoting the adoption of its heavy handed economic model,
often by threatening or even using force against neighboring countries.
The Cold War, which started in 1945 as World
War Two was ending, was a competition between the U.S.
led liberal world order and the Soviet led illiberal order.
The two leading countries use their economic,
political and military power to expand
and defend their respective borders for over 40 years.
And while they never fought each other directly,
they did fight each other indirectly through allies and proxies.
In 1991, when the Soviet
Union fell apart, the order it had controlled also disappeared,
and the countries within it began to join the U.S.
led liberal world order, instead making it more robust than ever.
Many countries in Eastern Europe that had been in the Soviet
sphere of influence joined Naito.
The European Union, or both, as did many independent countries
that emerged from what had been the Soviet Union.
While there were still conflicts between and within countries,
notably in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, by the end of the 1990s,
this system had produced a world that was more peaceful,
more democratic, more prosperous and healthier than ever before.
The world
economy had grown more than six times larger in size, and people were living
more than 20 years longer on average, than they had been back in 1945.
But since the late 2000s,
the liberal world order has become weaker and is facing challenges on every front.
The liberal world order is now less liberal.
Some countries are less democratic at home and less inclined
to support human rights and the rule of law elsewhere.
The liberal world order is now less orderly.
Some countries are ignoring the territorial integrity of others.
Like when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014
and annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.
Also, international institutions are struggling to address major problems
that require collective action, like the spread of nuclear weapons
and global pandemics, or stemming conflict and violence within countries
and combating new sources of disorder from cyberattacks
to climate change will require new rules and international coordination
which do not yet exist.
The liberal world order is now less.
Global powers like China are trying to build their own regional orders
through military and security coordination,
and by offering loans and investments in infrastructure, enabling them to exert
greater influence on their neighbors economic and political decisions.
Historically, the United States has been the principal
leader and greatest supporter of the liberal world order.
But that commitment has weakened in recent years.
The American people have become less
supportive of using the country's military on behalf of policies
they believe are too costly or do not involve vital national interests.
And some leaders of countries allied to
the United States have grown less confident that the U.S.
would come to their defense if they come under attack.
The beating
heart of the liberal world order has slowed.
And it is unlikely there is a country
or group of countries that could take on the U.S.
as role and responsibilities
. China is powerful, but uninterested in supporting liberalism or democracy.
And even if it was, its authoritarian model is unattractive
to much of the world.
European countries might be interested in working together to support it,
but they have their own challenges and lack sufficient power.
So that leaves the U.S.
as the best contender to lead a renewal of the liberal world
order by encouraging international coordination.
If the U.S.
fails to address the challenges facing the liberal world order,
it will continue to weaken and the world will likely become less
prosperous, less peaceful and less democratic once again.