Essay questions
1. Is the current crisis of liberal world order a crisis of US authority or reflective of a broader crisis of liberalism?
2. Can the current crisis of liberal world order be understood without taking into account colonialism?
3. What is the role of Trump in the current crisis of liberal world order?
4. The current world order has seen a rise in white nationalism across many liberal states. What are some of the connections between the crisis of liberal world order, the rise of white nationalism and the politics of gender and sexuality?
5. Critics argue that the history of the rise of the modern liberal order is a history of capitalist violence. Discuss this argument in reference to the post-Cold War era (i.e. debates on: neoliberal globalization; use of war).
6. How can Mill’s concept of ‘racial liberalism’ provide insights into some of the politics of the current crisis of liberal world order? Discuss in reference to at least one example associated with post-Cold war era liberal internationalism.
7. Some critics connect the current crisis of liberal world order to what they see as deeper, structural tensions inherent in liberalism and ‘the liberal project’. Discuss in reference to at least one specific example (eg. Covid19 crisis: its origins in industrial agriculture; intellectual property rights; distribution of vaccines etc).
8. How do we make sense of a long history of examples of liberal states acting (largely) benign-liberal domestically and ‘illiberal’ abroad/in their foreign relations? Discuss in reference to at least one specific example in the post-Cold War era.
9. How do we make sense of a long history of examples of liberal states acting (largely) benign-liberal domestically and ‘illiberal’ abroad/in their foreign relations? (If this has changed,) W/were earlier liberal states simply ‘immature’
