The “liberal international order” that has been dominant, if often contested, since 1945 is being challenged as never before. Chatham House examines the role and ambitions of the US as a global power and examines how other key states are adapting.
China’s approach to international order can be seen as an attempt to balance US power and minimise US constraints on Beijing’s ability to influence and shape its external environment. It does so by emphasising Westphalian ideas of sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-interference and the formal equality of states, as opposed to liberal principles of openness, free markets, rules-based approaches and universal values.
Russia has a shaky reputation as the power leading the global effort to dismantle the US-led liberal international order. In the case of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s opportunistic global messaging about being the vanguard of anti-Western imperialism is echoed elsewhere. Discussions about Russia’s vision of international order rightly focus on its relationship with China. While India will position itself close to the US, it will still be far from an alliance of states. This is not least because of India’s strategic realities, such as its economic dependence on China and its military dependence on Russia, but also because its ideological affinity is embedded in a commitment to maintaining strategic autonomy in foreign policy.
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