Liberalism is a fundamental doctrine for international theory and foreign policy alike.
Not only was the attempt to end war, or at least to limit the use of force among states,
a key element of the idealist school, but it also lay at the root of international relations
as an academic discipline. More importantly, it represented a key element of the “new
worldµ imagined by President Wilson during WWI and in its aftermath. Regardless of
the shortcomings and failures of this scheme, the attempt to create a liberal order at the
international level remained a major goal of statesmen throughout the Twentieth century.
However, the “illiberal momentµ of Donald Trump’s administration has marked a turning
point in the liberal project as well as in the crisis of its political and economic order.