The Liberal International Order

The Liberal International OrderDhruva Jaishankar

What is the liberal international order?

How did it come about?

And is it worth strengthening?

A Brief History of International Order

Westphalian Sovereignty: Cuius regio, eius religio(Territorial sovereignty and non-interference)

Universal ValuesAmerican revolutionFrench revolution

The Illiberal Order of the 19th CenturyBalance of PowerColonialism & Slavery

Marxism, Fascism, and Neo-liberalism

Le Colloque Walter Lippmann, Paris (1938): Friedrich Hayek, Walter Lippmann, Alexander Rustow, Raymond Aron

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Roosevelts Four Freedoms Speech (1941)"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expressioneverywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own wayeverywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from wantwhich, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitantseverywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fearwhich, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighboranywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.

The Atlantic Charter (1941)The President of the United States and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing H. M. Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world.

1. Their countries seek no aggrandissement, territorial or other.

2. They desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned.

3. They respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of Government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.

4. They will endeavour with due respect for their existing obligations, to further enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity.

5. They desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field, with the object of securing for all improved labour standards, economic advancement, and social security.

6. After the final destruction of Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want.

7. Such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance.

8. They believe all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well spiritual reasons, must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea, or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measures which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armament."

Post-WWII InstitutionsNATOMarshall Plan/Bretton Woods

The Cold War

Saw the preservation of the liberal order (although often through illiberal means).

Resilience of the Post-1945 OrderWhy post-war institutions survived post-1991:

1. The post-war international order was built on consent.

2. Democracies mute the importance of power disparities.

(G. John Ikenberry, After Victory and Liberal Leviathan)

Why not the UN?International institutions are only as effective as the great powers allow them to be.(Mark Mazower)

In practice, the UN has emphasized the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members (Art. 2 of UN Charter) over liberal values (e.g. UNHRC, Internet Governance)

Elements of the Liberal International OrderI. Freedom: Freedom of Speech and Worship (of Expression and Action)

II. Security: Freedom from Fear

III. Prosperity: Freedom from Want

IV. Internationalism: everywhere in the world

I. Freedom of Speech and Worship

Paintings by Norman Rockwell

Liberal democracy and freedomThe end point of mans ideological evolution?An unachievable utopia?All forms of government are fallible; an open society is one that can adapt, and only a democracy can adapt and reform without violence.

What is a liberal democracy?

Elements of Liberal DemocracyThe Modern State: Legitimate monopoly of force over territory (Max Weber)Can the state enforce laws?Can it provide basic public services?Is it modern (i.e. impersonal and non-patrimonial)? Is there a distinction between public and private property? The Rule of LawAre there checks and balances?Does the law apply to rulers?Are there constraints on state power?Democratic AccountabilityAre democratic procedures (e.g. elections) in place?

Democracy Is Spreading

Images courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

More People Are Living in Liberal Democracies

Images courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)Proves the enduring appeal and attraction soft power of liberal democracy.

Liberal standards are improvingWhen people talk gauzily of life in postwar America, they presumably are not referring to the lives of women, African-Americans, gays, lesbians, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Latinos, Asian-Americans or the disabled.

The New York Times (Dec. 19, 2013)

II. Prosperity: Freedom from Want

GDP GrowthHuman DevelopmentSustainabilityUnemploymentInequalityResource curseHappiness?Painting by Norman Rockwell

Things are getting betterLife expectancy has risen 50% since 1900 and is still rising. Those living on less than $1 a day has dropped to 14%, from 42% in 1981. Global inequality has fallen (Milanovic).

Poverty Is Declining

Image courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

The West (1950) = The Rest (2008)

Images courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

A New Global Middle Class

Images courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

The World is Better Educated

Image courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

The World is Healthier

Image courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

Why? Many reasonsincluding trade.

Image courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

III. Security: Freedom from Fear

Painting by Norman Rockwell

Wars Are Less Commonand Less Deadly

Image courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

Violent Crime Has Also FallenGlobally

Image courtesy Max Roser (ourworldindata.org)

Yeseven terrorismTerrorism Victims in Western Europe (source: Statista)

Why Has Violence Declined?Elements of the liberal international order:Deterrence and alliances Interdependence, institutions, and idealsChanging normsEmpathy, self-control, morality, and reason have overcome practical violence, domination, revenge, sadism, and ideology. (Steven Pinker)

IV. InternationalismGlobal freedom, security, and prosperity has been made possible by the Western-led liberal international order.But, the Rise of the Rest means that the liberal international order is no longer (only) Western.

Painting by Norman Rockwell

ConclusionsThe liberal international order works: it has helped the world become more free, prosperous, secure, and integrated.

The liberal international order is worth preserving on both normative and practical grounds.

The transatlantic partnership has been and remains - at the core of the liberal international order, even though the West can no longer claim sole ownership of it.

Further ReadingMax Weber, Politik als BerufRobert Dahl, Democracy and Its CriticsFrancis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political OrderKarl Popper, The Open Society and Its EnemiesRaymond Aron, Democracy and TotalitarianismDean Acheson, Present at the CreationTony Judt, PostwarMark Mazower, Governing the WorldAngus Deaton, The Great EscapeSteven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our NatureG. John Ikenberry, After Victory/Liberal LeviathanMax C. Roser, ourworldindata.org