Globalization and the changing liberal international order : a review of the literature

Recent trends across Europe and America suggest that the liberal international order is increasingly changing. The changes are evident in the rise of new nationalism following the Brexit referendum of 2016 and subsequent exit of the UK from EU, the Catalonia independence referendum of 2017, the 2018 New Caledonia referendum in France, plus decline in multilateralism and rise in trade protectionism at the heels of the new US- led trade war with China. Other signs of change include the new US immigration policies and the proposed wall on the US/Mexico border, a shift of U.S. policy from openness to isolationism, and the withdrawal of the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. This article - traces the causal linkages between globalization and the changing international order. It revisits some of the assumptions and promises of globalization and argues that the changes suggest the decline of the liberal international order on which the world had been situated for decades. Conclusion reflects on the future of global governance.