The liberal world order is in crisis. Signs of internal disintegration combined with new external challenges are creating a maelstrom of conflicting interests that certainly gives grounds for concern. The fact that, now of all times, the United States is increasingly abandoning its role as defender and guarantor of the “Pax ­Americana” is seriously exacerbating the situation and poses the question: who will save the liberal world order?

by Gerhard Wahlers

On the Crisis of the Liberal World Order

The crisis of the liberal world order is a crisis of self-confidence above all else. Despite all our self-criticism, we must not fall prey to defeatism, but should instead reflect on our own strengths and continue the success story of the last 70 years.

by Sebastian Enskat, M.A.

An interview with Olaf Wientzek, European Policy Coordinator at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

by Anja Schnabel

The Asia-Europe Meeting as an Instrument of the Rules-Based Multilateral Order

The world order as we have known it for decades is in turmoil. Countries in Europe and Asia in particular have been profiting from the rules-based multilateral order which provided them with security and allowed them to prosper. Therefore, they are strongly affected by the current volatility. Instead of relying on other powers, countries in both regions should work together and proactively shape the future of multilateralism through the Asia-Europe Meeting.

by Patrick Rüppel

China’s Advances into the Indian Ocean

China’s advances into the Indian Ocean are without precedent. India is hemmed in and Europe stirred. With the New Silk Road, Beijing is creating conditions that will determine the nature of this trading area. But the reaction is perplexity and temporisation. Yet, Europe still has time to defend its interests on the basis of its own geostrategy.

by Christoph Hein

Attitudes towards Democracy in Africa

Africa contains more transitional democracies than any other world region. Could the crisis of the liberal world order draw the continent towards authoritarianism? This article suggests that Africa’s democratisation may continue despite the current global trend towards illiberalism. Survey responses from 36 societies on the continent reveal a widespread commitment to the practices and principles of liberal democracy.

by Simon Primus, Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi

Beyond Autocrats and Islamists – Is there a Liberal Alternative?

The old order of the Arab world, which emerged from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War and was influenced for decades by post-colonial autocracies, is disintegrating. State collapse and the restoration of authoritarian regimes, religious radicalisation, and jihadist terror have long since dispelled the hopes for liberty and true participation in government raised by the “Arab Spring”. Do liberal forces still have a chance?

by Thomas Birringer, Edmund Ratka

Europe’s Partner for Global Governance?

While the international order is increasingly characterised by new competition between liberal economic and societal systems on the one hand and authoritarian, state-capitalist models on the other, Latin America is becoming more and more a focus of German and European foreign policy. China’s increasingly confident claim to global leadership and the withdrawal of the US as guarantor of an international order influenced by Western values are leading many to recall a sub-continent which had previously led a shadowy existence in international politics, but which in fact plays a central role in the continued existence of a liberal-democratic multilateral world order.

by Stefan Reith

The Future of Africa’s Energy Supply

The lack of a comprehensive, reliable electricity supply is a central obstacle to economic development on the African continent. In times of climate change, the question arises as to how the rising energy demand can be met in a climate-friendly manner. Western partners, and Germany in particular, emphasise the opportunities presented by renewable energy, but some African countries are already making plans for nuclear alternatives – and fossil fuels are by no means out of the running, either.

by Mathias Kamp