In the 1990s it was widely assumed that the end of the period of bipolarity (1947-1991) and the synchronous emergence of a truly global capitalist world economy would usher in a new liberal-democratic era of world politics. The incorporation of former Communist countries into the world economy, the diffusion of authority to international and transnational institutions, the growing recognition of global issues transcending the nation-state, and the spread of democratic norms were components of what appeared to be an irreversible departure from twentieth century power politics. By putting into question the power-maximising logic of the nation state, the post-Cold War offered what Richard Falk called a “historical moment of unprecedented opportunity” to demilitarise, reinforce international law and “promote humane global governance”, possibly to move towards what Habermas envisioned as a cosmopolitical configuration of world politics. A minima, it would strengthen rules-based global governance and hence foster cooperation. Today, these and like visions have been submerged by the spread of authoritarianism and ethnonationalist identity politics, and sharpening and perilous interstate rivalries, notably between China and the United States. Using a Polanyian framework, this talk aims to identify the main sources of this regressive transformation and its critical implications for our understanding of liberalism.

Philip Golub is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the American University of Paris (AUP). He previously taught at the Institute of European Studies of the University of Paris 8 and at the Institute of Political Studies of Paris (IEP). He regularly lectures in numerous research centres and universities, including the University of Bologna and the University of Lausanne. Anchored in the historical sociology of international relations, his research work focuses on the state, globalisation and contemporary international history. His publications include East Asia’s Reemergence (Polity Press, Cambridge and New York, 2016) and Power, Profit and Prestige: a History of American Imperial Expansion (Pluto Press, London, 2010) (published in France by Éditions le Seuil under the title Une autre histoire de la puissance américaine). He collaborates with the monthly magazine Le monde diplomatique, for which he was editorial advisor between 1999 and 2013.