Explore the vast range of titles available.

The liberal international economic order has been facing high-profile legitimacy challenges in recent years. This article puts these challenges in historical context through a systematic analysis of rhetorical challenges towards both the order per se and specific global economic institutions. Drawing on Albert Hirschman’s classic typology of exit, voice and loyalty, we coded leaders’ speeches in the General Debate at the UN General Assembly between 1970 and 2018 as articulating intentions to abandon elements of the order, challenges or calls for reform, unequivocal support, or factual mentions of cooperation. Surprisingly, we find that explicit criticisms towards the liberal order are at an all-time low and that exit threats remain rare. An analysis of the historical evolution of criticisms to global economic institutions reveals a move away from the Cold War insider-outsider conflict towards insider contestation. For example, we find that as countries’ economies become more open, their leaders expressed more support for global economic institutions during the Cold War but less support since. Finally, we demonstrate consistency between the public policy positions leaders announce in UNGA General Debate speeches and their government positions on consequential reform debates on debt relief.

Abstract Conventional literature on world order assumes order as static and privileges it over change or transition, conflating the latter with disorder/interregnum. It also reduces order to material elements and overlooks its ideational underpinnings. Moving beyond the order-disorder paradox and the hegemonic centrality of material elements, the paper argues that ideational elements are important in theorising world order since they help in stabilisation of a particular meaning of order and according it legitimacy. Besides, ideational elements deployed for the construction and normalization of liberal world order and its interrogation by contesting frames may be seen as harbinger of a new world order, which may or may not obtain and hence transition is integral to order. The purpose of this paper is to understand how order is legitimised, normalised and perpetuated and how it goes through transition, both as a way to reinforce its legitimacy but also to adapt itself to the challenges from the powerful as also the powerless actors. To examine the role that ideas play in this process of stabilisation, contestation and transition of order, the paper anchors itself in a critical analysis of the ideational premises of the liberal order—both political and economic—as enumerated in select indices, namely, the Freedom House indices, KOF index, V-Dem, Multidimensional Poverty index, and World Inequality Index. These indices are simultaneously about reinforcing the liberal order; hierarchising the world within a universalising narrative; as also contesting it, and, hence an important component in theorising world order transitions.

In a time of great uncertainty about the future and resilience of the liberal world order this Forum focuses on China's rise and interplay with the foundations of that liberal order. The key question is the extent to and variegated ways in which China - with its (re)ascendance to power and potential global leadership - is adapting to and perhaps even strengthening liberal institutions and rules of the game, confronting them, or developing alternative paths. In this introduction to the Forum we advance three key points based on the contributions. First, contrasting the orthodox binary scenarios of either inevitable conflict or co-optation offered in the mainstream IR debate, the Forum highlights the possibility of a third scenario of China's interplay with the liberal world and its key actors, institutions, and rules. A hybrid and variegated scenario that entails both conflict and adaptation, differently entangled in different issue areas. Second, it stresses the need to conceptualize and empirically comprise the essentially interlinked nature of domestic state-society models and the global political economy. Third, we argue for a perspective that incorporates underlying economic and social structures and the power relations embedded therein.

America's Missionargues that the global strength and prestige of democracy today are due in large part to America's impact on international affairs. Tony Smith documents the extraordinary history of how American foreign policy has been used to try to promote democracy worldwide, an effort that enjoyed its greatest triumphs in the occupations of Japan and Germany but suffered huge setbacks in Latin America, Vietnam, and elsewhere. With new chapters and a new introduction and epilogue, this expanded edition also traces U.S. attempts to spread democracy more recently, under presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, and assesses America's role in the Arab Spring.

The paper explores the role of the European Union (EU) in the war in Ukraine, from the run-up of the war to its impact on the EU’s future structure and functions, within Europe and globally. It begins with an account of the condition of the EU before the war, which it describes as overextended and stagnant with respect to the EU’s proclaimed finalité, the “ever closer union of the peoples of Europe.” Next, it recounts the use of the EU in early American attempts to include Ukraine in the East European enlargement of NATO, with EU membership as a reward for Ukrainian Westernization. To the EU leadership, this presented an opportunity to revive older, by then largely failed attempts at supranational unification and centralization, by offering to the United States to serve as its transatlantic base for its Ukrainian strategy. Following this, the paper explores the consequences for the EU and its stronger member states of the impending American withdrawal from the Ukrainian war theater, as the US turns to its conflict with China. The final section discusses the conditions under which Europe, the European states, and the EU can hope for some kind of strategic and political autonomy in the emerging new New World Order.

This paper aims to shed light into Turkey's political and diplomatic history by focusing on its efforts to join the United Nations (UN). The search for a new political system in Turkey coincided with the global quest for a new world order, initiated by the UN's four founding members during the Second World War. After a brief discussion on the making of the UN and its predecessors, the paper delves into Turkey's position during the war, followed by an analysis of the ruling elites' perceptions as reflected in parliamentary debates and the contemporary national press coverage. Furthermore, the paper evaluates the influence of UN membership on the emergence of a multi-party system in Turkey and discusses how and why the change of the global political climate contributed to the transformation of the Turkish political system.

The 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia had far-reaching effects on the world. It disrupted trade and caused a shift in the global power balance. Western nations responded by imposing sanctions on Russia, but the BRICS countries, such as South Africa, took a different approach. This led experts to predict the emergence of a new global order. This article examines South Africa’s role as a member of BRICS in this new order. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions: Can South Africa contribute to shaping the new world order? How can it use its BRICS membership to do so? What challenges and prospects does the new order present for South Africa? The article uses a qualitative approach and document analysis to study policies, press releases, and speeches. It shows that the position taken by South Africa suggests that it supports overhauling the current world order, which is primarily controlled by Western powers who create rules without regard for international law. The article exposes South Africa’s belief that the current world order fails to account for new global developments and centres of influence. It concludes that South Africa advocates for a new, fair, and just world order based on international law. To achieve this, the article suggests that South Africa should leverage its regional influence, abundant resources, and developed financial system to establish a BRICS-driven new world order while keeping its national interests clear.

To maintain a leadership role in Africa and the Global South, the ruling African National Congress’s (ANC’s) worldview and South African government’s foreign policy instruments need to re-emphasise the goal of advancing human rights and international law. Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency is making courageous attempts to reposition South Africa as a global norm-setter, regional leader, mediator, and African peacekeeper. To reclaim the country’s moral position while navigating a rapidly evolving international order, South Africa must start addressing the decline of democracy, governance, peace, and security at home and in the Southern African region. Part of this process requires a properly constructed foreign and security policy framework and practice that promotes its unique interests and that of Africa. Consequently, the author employed the triangulation of desktop method and transdisciplinary qualitative research methods to conduct a comprehensive study on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine wars, in order to analyse South Africa's position within the emerging global order. This study made recommendations for South Africa to effectively navigate and adapt to the new global order as conceptualised in the study.

The Russian war against Ukraine has already had crucial implications for the future of liberal interventionism. Drawing on current debates in IR about the transformation of the global world order, the article outlines how processes of global reordering affect (liberal) interventionism at different scales. The article argues that what has become known as the liberal international order is in retreat, at the expense of liberal peace-oriented international interventions. At the same time, current geopolitical realignments appear to be dividing the world into new spheres of influence, pitting democracies against autocracies at the global level and within regional conflicts. However, when it comes to security interventions and peacekeeping, the emerging realities on the ground, where a growing number of actors with different agendas interact, are more complex than simplistic world-order narratives suggest. Using the cases of international peacekeeping and security assistance as examples, the article shows that in some current international intervention sites, the emerging “multi-order world” is characterised by complicated constellations of parallel external assistance offers and rapid shifts in allegiances that do not necessarily follow clear divisions between “authoritarian” and “liberal” forms of assistance. The article therefore does not confirm expectations of the emergence of a “new Cold War” and a new round of ideological competition between international systems.

During the past two decades, the main focus in the fastgrowing field of multimodality has been the inter-semiotic relationships between different modes. However, due attention has recently been paid to one element which is lacking in multimodal texts: the argumentative element. This is referred to in the literature as multimodal argumentation in the belief that an argument is neither verbal nor visual and, in analyzing argumentative discourse, attention is to be paid to both verbal and visual modes with no need for a priori division. This research attempts to provide further study in this direction, thus adding to the current interest in giving a new perspective to the analysis of argumentative discourse. This research aims to explore how Instagram posts, viewed as representing perlocutionary acts, operate as instances of multimodal argumentation. The study is structured within the Contemporary Theoretical Framework of the Speech Act theory (Harris et al., 2018) and Multimodal Argumentation (Tseronis, 2018, 2020). Data for the study are images from The Incredible Hulk Comic Book (1980) and Instagram spoof posts (photos and captions) by Arab Netizens on 11th to 13th November (2022) towards the first trailer for Captain America 4: New World Order (2024), which were in response to Marvel Studios’announcement in September 2022. A descriptive qualitative approach has been adopted as it describes a particular perspective qualitatively. Findings have revealed that spoof Instagram posts operating as a perlocutionary act are potential instances of multimodal argumentation. The research might add to the domain of speech acts and the literature on multimodal argumentation.