Deep Contestations of the Liberal International Order
Published on 19. February 2026
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-19-898099-5 (ISBN)
Description
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
The liberal international order (LIO) is deeply contested. This book distinguishes between "normal" and "deep" contestation: the former represents necessary engagement with norms in everyday policy-making and politics. "Normal" contestations are constitutive for any liberal orders, including the LIO. "Deep" contestations, however, typically target core principles, norms, and institutions of an order itself and can lead to order change or collapse. Putin's invasion of Ukraine or Trump's attacks on the rule-based international economic order are examples of current deep contestations. The chapters in this book argue that the drivers of these contestations are the built-in contradictions and broken promises of the LIO itself: intrusiveness (without inclusiveness), (economic and other) inequalities, and incapacity (to solve global governance problems such as climate change). The LIO is also challenged by the "axis of autocracies" (e.g. Russia and China) and their transnational alliances with authoritarian right-wing populism in liberal democracies in the US and in Europe. However, even deep contestations do not spell the end of an order per se. The LIO's survival depends on its resilience understood as the capacity to change and adapt when faced with major challenges. The volume projects several scenarios for the future and discusses the factors that will determine the LIO's resilience.
This volume has emerged from research carried out as part of the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script - SCRIPTS", which analyzes the contemporary controversies about liberal ideas, institutions, and practices on the national and international level from a historical, global, and comparative perspective. It connects academic expertise in the social sciences and area studies and collaborates with research institutions in all world regions. Operating since 2019 and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), SCRIPTS unites eight major Berlin-based research institutions: Freie Universitaet Berlin, the Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), the Hertie School, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), the Berlin branch of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), and the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO).
The liberal international order (LIO) is deeply contested. This book distinguishes between "normal" and "deep" contestation: the former represents necessary engagement with norms in everyday policy-making and politics. "Normal" contestations are constitutive for any liberal orders, including the LIO. "Deep" contestations, however, typically target core principles, norms, and institutions of an order itself and can lead to order change or collapse. Putin's invasion of Ukraine or Trump's attacks on the rule-based international economic order are examples of current deep contestations. The chapters in this book argue that the drivers of these contestations are the built-in contradictions and broken promises of the LIO itself: intrusiveness (without inclusiveness), (economic and other) inequalities, and incapacity (to solve global governance problems such as climate change). The LIO is also challenged by the "axis of autocracies" (e.g. Russia and China) and their transnational alliances with authoritarian right-wing populism in liberal democracies in the US and in Europe. However, even deep contestations do not spell the end of an order per se. The LIO's survival depends on its resilience understood as the capacity to change and adapt when faced with major challenges. The volume projects several scenarios for the future and discusses the factors that will determine the LIO's resilience.
This volume has emerged from research carried out as part of the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script - SCRIPTS", which analyzes the contemporary controversies about liberal ideas, institutions, and practices on the national and international level from a historical, global, and comparative perspective. It connects academic expertise in the social sciences and area studies and collaborates with research institutions in all world regions. Operating since 2019 and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), SCRIPTS unites eight major Berlin-based research institutions: Freie Universitaet Berlin, the Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), the Hertie School, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), the Berlin branch of the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), and the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO).
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
626 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-898099-5 (9780198980995)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Antje Wiener holds the Chair of Political Science, especially Global Governance at the University of Hamburg, where she is also a Professor of Law. She is a By-Fellow at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and a Member of the Academia Europea. She obtained her MA from FU Berlin and her PhD from Carleton University, and held Chairs in International Studies at Queen's University Belfast and the University of Bath. She also taught at Stanford, Sussex, and Hannover. She is founding editor of Global Constitutionalism and the Springer Series Norm Research in International Relations.
David A. Lake is Distinguished Professor of the Graduate Division at the University of California, San Diego. He was formerly the Jerri-Ann and Gary E. Jacobs Professor of Social Sciences (2010-2024) and Distinguished Professor of Political Science (2009-2024). He has served as President of the American Political Science Association (2016-2017) and President of the International Studies Association (2010-2011). The recipient of UCSD Chancellor's Associates Awards for Excellence in Graduate Education (2005) and Excellence in Research in Humanities and Social Sciences (2013), he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.
Thomas Risse is Professor of International Politics at the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS) at Freie Universitaet Berlin. He has taught in the US at Cornell, Yale, Stanford, and Harvard universities and the University of Wyoming and in Europe at the University of Konstanz and the European University Institute, Florence. He chairs the Academic Advisory Board of the German Council on Foreign Relations. His research interests include international relations theory, norms and transnational actors in world politics, governance in areas of limited statehood, European integration, and European identity, as well as transatlantic relations and the contemporary challenges to the liberal international order.
David A. Lake is Distinguished Professor of the Graduate Division at the University of California, San Diego. He was formerly the Jerri-Ann and Gary E. Jacobs Professor of Social Sciences (2010-2024) and Distinguished Professor of Political Science (2009-2024). He has served as President of the American Political Science Association (2016-2017) and President of the International Studies Association (2010-2011). The recipient of UCSD Chancellor's Associates Awards for Excellence in Graduate Education (2005) and Excellence in Research in Humanities and Social Sciences (2013), he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.
Thomas Risse is Professor of International Politics at the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS) at Freie Universitaet Berlin. He has taught in the US at Cornell, Yale, Stanford, and Harvard universities and the University of Wyoming and in Europe at the University of Konstanz and the European University Institute, Florence. He chairs the Academic Advisory Board of the German Council on Foreign Relations. His research interests include international relations theory, norms and transnational actors in world politics, governance in areas of limited statehood, European integration, and European identity, as well as transatlantic relations and the contemporary challenges to the liberal international order.
Volume editor
Professor of Political Science and Professor of LawProfessor of Political Science and Professor of Law, University of Hamburg
Distinguished Professor of the Graduate DivisionDistinguished Professor of the Graduate Division, University of California, San Diego
Professor, Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS)Professor, Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script" (SCRIPTS), Freie Universitaet Berlin
Content
1: David A. Lake and Antje Wiener: Introduction: Deep Contestations of the Liberal International Order 2: Antje Wiener: Dealing with Sources, Substance, and Effects of Deep Contestation: Quod Omnes Tangit as a Heuristic 3: Nicole Deitelhoff: Conflict Sociology and Contestation: What Makes Contestation Productive? 4: David A. Lake: Crisis of Legitimacy: Deep Contestation, Inequality, and the Liberal International Order 5: Kathryn Sikkink: How Moral Psychology Can Help Us Understand Deep Contestation of the Prohibition on the Threat and Use of Force 6: Mathias Albert: No Contestation Without Comparison: Practices of Military Force Comparison as Modes of World Ordering 7: Tanja A. Boerzel: From Postnational Liberalism to Postliberal Nationalism: Deep Contestations and the Future of the European Liberal Order 8: Jeffrey T. Checkel: Identity Politics and Deep Contestations of the Liberal International Order: The Case of Europe 9: Beth A. Simmons: The Liberal International Order and International Borders in the Twenty-First Century 10: Manjeet S. Pardesi: The Liberal International Order as a Core-Periphery Order: An Alternative History with Multiple Deep Contestations 11: Thomas Risse: Conclusions: Deep Contestations and the Resilience of the Liberal International Order