Article by Foreign Minister of Belarus V.Makei “Liberal International Order: Can it be Saved in Today’s Non-Hegemonic World?”
15.11.2022Abstract
The Liberal International Order (LIO) emerged after World War II and reached its pinnacle in the 1990s when its key liberal proponent enjoyed a hegemonic position on the global scene. Importantly, the Order’s true roots could be traced to much earlier times, to the late XVIII century, when two distinct tracks, economic and political, emerged in European politics. Observers tend to overlook today the Order’s dual nature made by these two tracks, thereby missing its key inherent problem. While the Order’s economic component may be acceptable to all, its political component, embodied in the so-called “Democratic Peace” idea, serves only to polarize the world. Crucially, today’s discourse on the Order takes place at a post-hegemonic time. Thus, those who keep insisting on the possibility of saving the Order, which was relevant for a short-lived liberal hegemonic era, miss the point that a diverse world requires a new kind of international order.
