The Post-War Evolution of Globalisation and International Order: From Liberal to Neoliberal International Order

Abstract

Great-power tensions, regional conflict, and income inequality are some of the principal troubles facing the international community. The blame for this current global turmoil is commonly framed as the outcome of globalisation gone awry. This article challenges this conclusion. First, globalisation cannot be the primary explanation for these outcomes since it is not an ideology, a distinct set of ideas, or a programme of policies. Globalisation is only a framework of integration that necessarily requires ideas, tenets, and strategies to animate it. Second, it is important to distinguish between two different periods of discrete global order: the Liberal International Order which began in 1945 and ended in 1980 followed by the Neoliberal International Order which finished in 2015. Concomitantly, the ideology, principles, and policies that infused each order determined the substance of globalisation during each period. Conflating liberal and neoliberal ideologies and the orders they imbued obscures the fact that their substance and consequences diverged significantly. A proper scrutiny of each order and its underlying ideology would also induce a careful examination of globalisation particularly of the benefits accrued during the liberal period. Ultimately, it was the implementation of neoliberal policies that are at the root of the current turbulence.