In a recent meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping remarked that “the international order is crumbling into disarray.” Given the numerous wars and widespread economic disruption unfolding around the world, Xi’s sentiments are likely shared by many other global leaders.
Beyond the policymaking community, numerous commentators on global affairs, including myself, also regularly invoke the “international order,” as well as related phrases such as “world order,” “global order,” “rules-based order” and “liberal international order.” And there are shelves full of scholarly monographs with the phrase adorning the title. In fact, the idea of a world order, if not the phrase itself, has existed for as long as there has been a conception of global politics. But what exactly does it mean?
Like many concepts related to international relations, the modern idea of an international order first gained prominence during World War I. Specifically, in February 1918, less than a year after the U.S. entered the war, then-President Woodrow Wilson delivered his “Address to Congress on International Order.” In it, Wilson expressed his desire for the U.S. to remake Europe in the war’s aftermath, declaring that nothing less than “the peace of the world” was at stake. “What we are striving for,” he added, “is a new international order based upon broad and universal principles of right and justice—no mere peace of shreds and patches.” In other words, Wilson was calling for rules that could sustain peace and bring stability to relations among nations.