The collapse of the bipolar international system near the end of the twentieth century changed political liberalism from a regional system with aspirations of universality to global ideological ...dominance as the basic vision of how international life should be organized. Yet in the last two decades liberal democracies have not been able to create an effective and legitimate liberal world order. InA Liberal World Order in Crisis, Georg Sorensen suggests that this is connected to major tensions between two strains of liberalism: a "liberalism of imposition" affirms the universal validity of liberal values and is ready to use any means to secure the worldwide expansion of liberal principles. A "liberalism of restraint" emphasizes nonintervention, moderation, and respect for others.
This book is the first comprehensive discussion of how tensions in liberalism create problems for the establishment of a liberal world order. The book is also the first skeptical liberal statement to appear since the era of liberal optimism-based in anticipation of the end of history-in the 1990s. Sorensen identifies major competing analyses of world order and explains why their focus on balance-of-power competition, civilizational conflict, international terrorism, and fragile states is insufficient.
Neorealism tends to base itself on a certain, taken-for-granted, view of the material
forces in IR, a view which focuses on the relative distribution of capabilities
between sovereign states and ...their consequences in terms of the socialization and
competition among states. Social constructivism is preoccupied with the study of
ideas, but tends not to question the neorealist view of either socialization or
competition or of the material world; the result is that the development and change
of how material forces impact with the social world in IR is seriously
under-theorized. The present contribution argues in favour of an approach which
includes materialist as well as ideational factors; in that sense it advocates
`analytical eclecticism'. A rich concept of international structure, which includes
materialist as well as ideational factors, is proposed and the consequences of that
concept for the analysis of IR are indicated.
This publication considers common concerns of developing countries in the search for sustainable development and growth such as globalisation, democracy, poverty and inequality, while also ...emphasising special regional needs. It contains a number of papers which discuss four key shared concerns: to what extent should states intervene in the market in order to promote growth; how much emphasis should development strategies put on deliberate redistribution and/or poverty alleviation; the impact of globalisation on developing countries in choosing their development paths; and whether democracies are able to reconcile economic growth with distribution.
This is a book about the contributions of mid-twentieth-century classical realists, first and foremost E. H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau, and Reinhold Niebuhr. The argument is that the “realism” defended ...by these scholars is sadly misrepresented in mainstream textbooks. Textbook renditions of realism emphasize the pursuit of national interest and the importance of Realpolitik, deny morality any meaningful role in international politics, and confirm the primacy of the sovereign nation-state and the fragility of international institutions. Realists look to the balance of power as the major instrument in preserving peace, and they reject the idea that anarchy can be transformed as a result of globalization and interstate cooperation, even in advanced cases of the latter, such as the European Union.
Thanks to William Scheuerman for his thoughtful and stimulating comments on my book. It is certainly true that the crisis of liberalism in general and of the liberal world order in particular is not ...a new subject. Then why take it up again? For two reasons: first, many of the previous and contemporary critical analyses of the liberal world order tend to be prejudiced by theoretical and/or political convictions that serve to predetermine their view of the subject. I consider myself a skeptical liberal in the sense that the progress which most liberals talk about is possible and desirable, but it cannot be taken for granted and the obstacles to progress are much more serious than many liberals think. Differently put, there is no end of history, no secure path to modernity for all, no safe, upward arrow towards progress. “History has no libretto,” as Alexander Herzen said.
The security dilemma – which raises the imminent risk of war between sovereign states – has always been considered the core issue of international relations. But, the security dilemma is in decline. ...Interstate war is no longer the supreme concern on the international security agenda. Instead, new dilemmas have emerged, in particular the insecurity dilemma and the associated value dilemma. The insecurity dilemma poses a looming risk of violent domestic conflict in weak states. The related value dilemma concerns the ambiguous content of core liberal values. Negative liberty is autonomy, self-determination and the ability to act unimpeded by others. The promotion of negative liberty calls for non-intervention. Positive liberty is removal of the obstacles that stand in liberty's way: oppression, poverty, ignorance and tyranny. The promotion of positive liberty calls for intervention. Emphasizing negative liberty creates grave problems; emphasizing positive liberty creates grave problems of a different kind. Compromises between intervention and non-intervention must always be troubled and uneasy, because they involve trade-offs between liberal values that are all desirable. There is no clear path to a more liberal world order.
This article seeks to evaluate the prospects for a liberal world order. Sceptical
visions of renewed conflict and major terrorist threat are rejected. But this does
not pave the way for a peaceful, ...cooperative liberal order in any simple way.
Liberal progress also produces illiberal counter-reactions, and strong political
forces are pursuing a liberal order with elements that are essentially illiberal.
There has been much too little debate about the substantial contents of a liberal
world order. The article identifies two major currents in liberalism, Restraint and
Imposition. Each is problematic and a stable liberal world order will have to find a
course which avoids the pitfalls of these extremes.
Structural realism has important insights to offer regarding the current balance of power and its effects on world politics. But structural realism is less ready to analyze changes in statehood and ...their implications for international relations. States are not `like units' and anarchy does not always mean self-help. A richer concept of structure which includes economic power, political—military power, and international norms gives us a better take on the ways in which international forces affect domestic structures of states. In particular, they help us detect the weak states in the developing world, and the postmodern states in the OECD world. In weak states the classical security dilemma has been turned on its head: instead of domestic order and international threat there is domestic threat and international order. In postmodern states violent external threat has been dramatically reduced because these states make up a security community.
What kind of world order is now emerging? There are several different suggestions in the debate and the present article is a modest attempt to cut through the confusion. Any comprehensive analysis of ...order must address four major aspects or dimensions of the phenomenon: (a) the realist concern of the politico-military balance of war; (b) the liberal concern of the make-up of international institutions and the emergence of global governance; (c) the constructivist concern of the realm of ideas and ideology, with a focus on the existence or otherwise of common values on a global scale; and (d) the IPE (International Political Economy) concern of the economic realm of production, finance and distribution. On the basis of this analysis, I define the current order as an interregnum; a new, stable order has not been established but significant elements of the old order remain in place. The consequences of this situation are discussed briefly.
