The United States and the EU saw themselves as the main promoters of such an order, which they hoped would eventually include most of the world. Up until around 2008, the mantra of Western discourse about international politics was a liberal and rules-based world order grounded in market economics, democracy, and multilateral diplomacy. Challenges to the Liberal and Rules-Based Order Kagan writes that without determined American leadership, nations would revert to traditional patterns of behavior and the world would relapse into disorder, darkness, and chaos.īoth Borrell’s speech and Kagan’s book are examples of a spreading perception that the end of the post–Cold War order is approaching and that the achievements of a relatively peaceful and orderly historical period are at grave risk. retreat from its global responsibilities.
Kagan’s book, which was written during the Donald Trump administration, amounts to a stark warning about the consequences of a U.S. This was likely a reference to Robert Kagan’s 2018 book, The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World. He had merely wished to juxtapose an international order based on principles accepted by all with an international order based on the will of the strongest, or “the law of the jungle.”īorrell also pointed out that the term “jungle” had been used by other authors, including U.S. Borrell later apologized and said that his comments were not intended to have racial, cultural, or geographic connotations. In an October 2022 speech to students, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, compared Europe to a garden, calling the region “the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that humankind has been able to build.” He contrasted Europe with the rest of the world, saying, “Most of the world is a jungle and the jungle could invade the garden.” The remarks triggered protests, particularly from officials and pundits in the Global South who accused Borrell of racism and “neocolonialist” arrogance. Even so, there is a great risk that the capacity for meeting global challenges, such as climate change, world poverty, and global health threats, will be badly damaged. However, economic interdependence and transnational ties will likely remain strong enough to prevent a complete lapse into anarchy and unrestrained competition. The West’s hope for an international system based on democracy, rule of law, and multilateral cooperation-which had already lost plausibility in recent years-now looks wholly unrealistic.Ĭurrent trends and recent strategic documents point toward a further ramping up of geopolitical competition, increasing economic protectionism and fragmentation, and a loosening of the structures of the international order. The Russian war against Ukraine and the growing U.S.-China rivalry will have a profound effect on the future of the world’s political organization.
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