When the British decided to leave the EU, Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, called June 23, 2016, British Independence Day and Brexit a victory against big business and “big politics.”

US President Donald Trump in his inaugural address shouted the “America first” principle and declared “what truly matters is not what party controls our government but that people should become the rulers of the country again.”

In France, Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front, praised Brexit and Trump’s “America first” principle, declaring that globalization means “manufacturing with slaves to sell to the unemployed.” She also predicted that a spring would come in Europe. By this she meant that a wind of new nationalist wind would blow in Europe.

The above movements aim to replace liberal internationalism, globalization and deficient Western democracy with a new isolationism, xenophobic nationalism and populist democracy.

It is interesting to find that similar movements are also growing strong outside of the West. In order to realize their goals, they often turn into extreme ideological, religious and separatist movements. This global wind of change will blow more strongly in 2017.

Why has liberal internationalism been championed and utilized by the US in its global leadership since it became a superpower after the Cold War challenged both the West and non-Western countries? The answer can be found in its characteristics.

According to a leading scholar of liberal internationalism, John Ikenberry, liberal internationalism consists of six principles: democracy; capitalism (free trade); international law and international institutions; cooperative security; optimism about modernization; and America’s global leadership.

Globalization is the main vehicle to realize liberal internationalism. Since the international financial crisis ultraright nationalist and xenophobic movements in the West have gained strength fast and widely.

They reject liberal internationalism, non-Western civilizations and the immigration of non-Westerners. On the other hand, non-Western countries are becoming more nationalistic and anti-Western, angered by the rise of ultraright nationalist and xenophobic movements in the West.

Ironically, non-Western countries that have adopted a capitalist economic system and joined the global free trade system have economically developed faster than Western capitalist countries.

China, which has adopted a capitalist system partially, is now challenging the US, the global political and economic leader. One universal trend is that all states, including both Western and non-Western countries, are becoming nationalistic and more ethnocentric or religiously extreme. Consequently, most existing nation-states are suffering from globalization from without and separatism from within.

How do states actually treat the six principles of liberal internationalism?

Firstly, capitalism and democracy have been growing globally since the end of the Cold War. However, capitalism has expanded fast, while democracy has not and has become more and more deficient.

In both Western and non-Western democratic-capitalist countries the gap between rich and poor has increased as the rich and political elite in countries have formed a ruling coalition to control politics and economics.

As a result, the masses have become alienated and powerless, and democracy has turned into a diarchy. People in authoritarian states that have adopted capitalism outside the West suffer the most politically and economically.

On the other hand, China has proved that a state with a communist political system can achieve rapid economic development through a so-called socialist market economy. But regardless of a country’s political and economic systems, the gap between rich and poor has increased.

Just as the West suffers from too much democracy and capitalism, so countries outside the West suffer from too little democracy and capitalism. Globalization aggravates this trend. Consequently, anti-globalization movements have grown strong and the discontent of people toward democracy has deepened. The anti-globalization forces nurture populism and isolationism as well as primordial movements.

Secondly, those outside the West argue that the international system based on international law and cooperative security (or collective security) benefits only the West, mainly the US, and demands that the UN not be dominated by its five permanent members.

Non-Western countries also criticize the fact that the West uses humanitarian intervention as a means to justify its intervention in the domestic affairs of member states.

For these reasons, they demand the democratization of international organizations, such as through an equal voting system, and reject any kind of hegemonic leadership in the world.

Thirdly, most Arab states are xenophobic toward Western civilization, while other non-Western countries are rather open-minded toward it.

However, non-Western countries with a capitalist economic system are also faced with a dilemma: no matter which religious, racial or ethnic groups they belong to, they have no choice but to accommodate major Western values -- such as individualism, rationalism and the rule of law -- and abandon the common values of non-Western civilizations such as collectivism, authoritarianism and irrationalism. This is because Western values are the driving force of industrialization and industrialization is part of modernization.

Finally, non-Western countries strongly oppose the US’ global leadership, whether moral or political, refuting the theory that an unipolar system is better for world peace than a multipolar system. Russia and China, two challengers of US hegemony, have jumped on this bandwagon and are leading the movement for anti-liberal internationalism.

As liberal internationalism retreats and nationalism becomes xenophobic, while capitalism aggravates economic inequality, both Western and non-Western states will suffer political instability and primordial power struggles.

In 2016, all continents suffered from all kinds of internal conflicts: nine out of 55 states in Africa; 16 out of 41 states in Asia and the Pacific; 10 out of 49 states in Europe; seven out of 12 in the Middle East; and six out of 35 states in the American continent. They are mostly separatist, terrorist and anarchist movements.

The world is faced with a dilemma. Primordial nationalism, discontent with the corruption of the state authorities and globalization, is defeating liberal internationalism. The clash between nationalism and internationalism will become crueler throughout this century.


By Park Sang-seek 

Park Sang-seek is a former rector of the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies at Kyung Hee University and the author of “Globalized Korea and Localized Globe.” He can be reached at parksangseek@hotmail.com. -- Ed.