Uploaded July 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago.
When the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fell apart, the world became unipolar, which allowed the United States and its European allies to try to make that Western liberal order truly global in nature. They were successful for a while, but with the recent resurrection of Russian power, and especially the rise of China, the global distribution of power has begun to shift, threatening to undermine that liberal international order. The problem has been compounded by various misguided foreign policies that the United States and its European allies have pursued in the post-Cold War era. Thus, the liberal international order that Western elites cherish is under siege.
R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago.
When the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union fell apart, the world became unipolar, which allowed the United States and its European allies to try to make that Western liberal order truly global in nature. They were successful for a while, but with the recent resurrection of Russian power, and especially the rise of China, the global distribution of power has begun to shift, threatening to undermine that liberal international order. The problem has been compounded by various misguided foreign policies that the United States and its European allies have pursued in the post-Cold War era. Thus, the liberal international order that Western elites cherish is under siege.
