Contestations and limits of the Liberal Order The Liberal Order was built under American leadership during the 1940s and 1950s with European and East Asian partners and organized around a network of institutions, open markets, security alliances and multilateral cooperation. Although membership of the Liberal Order by no means has been all inclusive, all states in the international system have had to confront, operate in, or work around this order. The order has always been based on a highly unequal power relationship, where the American hegemonic position has been accepted by most of those who subscribe to the order. However the Liberal Order has been fiercely contested by those on the outside of the order and by some segments of civil society – even within countries that otherwise subscribe to the Order. The unequal power relationship was nevertheless sustainable because it included a strategic bargain, where the United States provided guarantees on security and economic public goods as well as influence through multilateralism and institutionalized decision-making, which made the US a more predictable power. In return the co-opted members of the Liberal Order accepted the leading position of the US and accepted its institutional design. The concept ‘Liberal Order’ and its effects and origin is a deeply contested issue, not only by outsiders of the Liberal Order, but also from within. From within, questions relate to the role of democracy and liberal values for constructing, maintaining and also enlarging the Liberal Order, where issues of legitimacy and legality go straight to the heart of the debates about liberal values and global governance. From without, the contestations centre on the negative effects of the Liberal Order as a new and more discreet form of neo-colonialism, questions about the universality of the values underpinning the Liberal Order, and not least about the limits, and therefore also the limited effects of the Liberal Order in non-liberal audiences. We investigate how, why and where the Liberal Order is contested, how the liberal order may be extended beyond its current limits, and what negative and positive effects such an expansion may have. |
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