The Debate Over the End of the US-Led Liberal International Order: The Crisis of Liberalism and Its Future

Year 2020, Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 379 - 403, 30.09.2020

Ömer Kurtbağ

https://doi.org/10.14782/marmarasbd.710696

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze the question of whether or not the US-led liberal international order entered into an existential crisis in the wake of the election of Donald Trump as the US President in 2016 as well as the harmful acts of his predecessors to the liberal order. There has been an ongoing and fierce debate over the end of US-led liberal international order and its future within the Western academia and media in recent times. The main argument of the study is that the post-1945 liberal international order is now under serious threat, not only by the challenging rise of authoritarian powers such as China, but also due to the wave of illiberal popular movements within the Western World. Thus, by analyzing a systemic (global) phenomenon such as the crisis of the liberal international order, it presents a critical reading of the main works of liberals such as John Ikenberry whose analysis remains state based. By doing so, the contention is that liberalism has failed to predict this illiberal popular movements- oriented outcome, and falsely believes that the existing order is only the victim of its own success and will eventually survive the current disarray, since it is essentially a crisis of US hegemony rather than that of liberalism itself. The study concludes that this liberal order will gradually disappear and evolve eventually into a polity with less liberal and less American characteristics.

Keywords

Liberalism, Liberal Internationalism, Liberal International Order,, Trump, US Hegemony

ABD Liderliğindeki Liberal Uluslararası Düzenin Sonu Tartışması: Liberalizmin Krizi ve Geleceği

Abstract

Bu çalışma, ABD öncülüğünde İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası kurulan liberal uluslararası düzenin varoluşsal bir kriz içinde olup olmadığını, Donald Trump’ın Amerikan başkanlık seçimlerini kazanmasının ışığında çözümlemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Savaş sonrası ABD liderliğinde kurulan ve Amerikan hegemonyasının (pax-Americana) oluşumundan ayrı düşünülmesi zor olan bu düzenin son yıllarda ağır bir krize girdiği ve yerini post-liberal bir düzene bırakıp bırakmayacağı ile ABD’nin hegemonyasındaki gerilemenin burada oynayacağı rol, son yıllarda özellikle Batılı ülkelerin akademik çevrelerinde ve medyasında yoğun bir şekilde tartışılmaktadır. Çalışmanın başlıca savı, liberal uluslararası düzenin, bugün sadece Çin ve Rusya gibi otoriter güçlerin yükselişinden değil, aynı zamanda Batı dünyasında liberalizme düşman halk hareketlerinden de kaynaklanan ciddi bir tehdit altında olduğudur. Liberal uluslararası düzenin krizi gibi sistemik (küresel) bir olguyu çözümlemekle çalışma, John Ikenberry gibi Çin ve Rusya gibi otoriter devletler merkezli çözümleme yapan liberallerin başlıca çalışmalarının eleştirel bir okumasını sunma hedefindedir. Bununla da çalışma, öncelikle liberalizmin Batı içi liberalizm karşıtı popülist tepki kaynaklı bu krizi öngörmede başarısız olduğunu, ardından da liberallerin mevcut düzendeki krizin liberalizmin kendisinin değil ABD hegemonyasının krizi olduğundan hareketle eninde sonunda liberal düzenin bu çalkantıdan sağ çıkacağına dair yanlış bir inanca sahip olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Çalışma, mevcut liberal düzenin yerini daha az liberal ve daha az Amerikan karakterli bir düzene bırakacağı tespitiyle sonuçlandırılacaktır.

Keywords

liberalizm, liberal uluslararasıcılık, liberal uluslararası düzen, Trump

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