Reference News Network, March 12 report: On March 8, the U.S. "The National Interest" bi-monthly website published an article titled "Iran War and the Post-Liberal International Order," authored by Gad Ishayahu, a visiting lecturer at City, University of London's St George's. The full text is as follows:
The ongoing U.S. military action against Iran has dispelled the last illusions about the "liberal international order" and fully exposed the nature of American power politics.
In certain moments of international history, military actions have political significance—not just military operations, but also turning points in history. Now, the next chapter of global history may be changed by the "Epic Wrath" operation, which is the air strike campaign by the United States and Israel aimed at overthrowing the Iranian regime.
The background of this moment is a broader instability. While the United States and Israel are striking Iran, the endless war between Russia and Ukraine continues to put pressure on Europe's security structure. Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have escalated into open confrontation. Other regions also have intense conflicts, with civil wars ongoing in Sudan, Myanmar, and several countries in the Sahel region.
However, the importance of the Iran war cannot be overemphasized, at least in the Middle East. The decapitation of the Iranian leadership has overturned the strategic balance in the Middle East. Starting from the U.S. and Israeli attacks that led to the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei and other senior leaders of the Iranian regime, followed by a series of missile attacks by Iran targeting Western and pro-Western targets within neighboring countries, the Iran war is not only a military development that disrupts the balance, but also destroys the leadership of a sovereign state that had been central to politics in the Middle East and international politics for four decades. This war also confirmed that the "liberal international order" that had long influenced the Middle East policies of the United States and its allies has been eroded beyond repair.
Over the past thirty years since the end of the Cold War, policymakers assumed that the "anarchy" prevalent in global geopolitics could be mitigated through institutions, interdependence, and shared norms. This assumption was based on the belief that once rules were established, they could sustain themselves. However, what is happening in the Middle East shows that this is not the case: ultimately, order not only depends on rules, but also on the reliable capacity to enforce them.
Scholars and analysts have observed that the "liberal order" after 1991 did not collapse due to a single event, but rather because the gap between the effects desired by the norms and actual capabilities widened until it became irreparable, leading to the gradual erosion of the "liberal international order." The Iran war has made this erosion evident. When the United States launched the war against Iran, it did not seek the approval of the United Nations, nor did it call for the formation of a "voluntary coalition" as President Bush did when invading Iraq in 2003. The Trump administration also did not cite lofty moral reasons to justify bombing Iran. Trump's explanation was much more practical: the United States dislikes the Iranian government, has the capability to destroy it, and is doing so now.
These views are contrary to the "liberal international order." But along with the collapse of this order, what has returned to the center of the international system is not instability, but such a structure: the previously described controllable anarchy has once again become the fundamental condition of international politics. The organizing principle of this international system is power, which determines interactions between all countries.
Therefore, the international system is adjusting around the balance of power. In this adjustment, the West remains a central pole, but the ideology within the West is no longer consistent. The United States has openly used force as a legitimate tool to establish order. Although Europe still verbally commits to maintaining multilateralism, it is simultaneously carrying out the most significant military buildup in decades.
The logic of realism is clearly articulated in today's Middle East, where the construction of order has historically relied more on power competition than on institutions. With the decline of the "resistance axis," competition among other countries in the Middle East has not weakened but intensified, leading to new power struggles.
If the Gulf War of 1991 marked the birth of the U.S.-led "unipolar" order, then the attack on Tehran marks the end of the illusion of the "liberal international order." The world will not return to the past. But the world can be described again using familiar words: countries navigate by interests, and power is the common organizing principle. Realism has returned. Which side will shape the resulting order? (Translated by Hu Xue)
Original: toutiao.com/article/7616257951859016202/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.