The Liberal Order and Its Contestations: Great Powers and Regions Transiting in a Multipolar Era by Riccardo Alcaro

Author:Riccardo Alcaro [Alcaro, Riccardo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138617711
Google: 7GNStwEACAAJ
Goodreads: 40986328
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

The view that Russia wants to destroy the liberal international order is simplistic. Russia rhetorically supports key liberal normative frameworks, justifies its actions with the liberal order’s provisions and criticises the West for non-consistent implementation of those same provisions. Moreover, Russia does not suggest any alternative. Rather, Russia exposes three contradictions in the liberal order: sovereignty vs. intervention, pluralism vs. universality, and democracy vs. American hegemony. Moscow aims to reform the liberal international order so as to incorporate its concerns regarding sovereignty and specificity but also to secure for itself a better place in the management of international problems. Therefore, Russia has to be classified as neorevisionist. Two factors support this position; one is Russia’s perception that the liberal order does not accommodate its concerns regarding participation in the management of the order and its security; another is the choice of foreign policy over (and as a substitute for) domestic reform. At present there is a strong internal consensus in Russia on this view of the liberal international order.

The fact that Russia uses the liberal order’s internal contradictions to justify its foreign policy is crucial because it has several important policy-relevant consequences. First, it allows Russia and the West to engage on the normative terms that both parties share and support. This opens a space for discussion and a search for solutions that are mutually acceptable to the West and the rest of the international community (of which Russia claims to be one of the main representatives). Second, it reveals that for the liberal order to stay liberal it has to integrate all major players. The need for this inclusive adjustment of the liberal international order is compounded by the existence of threats affecting all major powers, such as terrorism, nuclear proliferation and climate change. Third, such an adjustment is predicated on Russia shouldering more responsibility for the maintenance and strengthening of the reformed order.67 A reformed liberal international order will create the necessary context for Russian internal reforms, which in turn will feed Russian support for the reformed order.

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