Abstract

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.