The Liberal World Order (LWO) is today in crisis. But what explains this crisis? Whereas its critics see it as the unmasking of Western hypocrisy, its longstanding proponents argue it is under threat by competing illiberal projects. This book takes a different stance: neither internal hypocrisy, nor external attacks explain the decline of the LWO a deviation from its original lane does. Emerged as a project aiming to harmonize state sovereignty and the market, through the promotion of liberal democracy domestically, and free trade and economic cooperation internationally, the LWO was hijacked in the 1980s: market forces overshadowed democratic forces, thus disfiguring the LWO into a Neoliberal Global Order. The book advocates for a revival of its original intellectual premises, that in the aftermath of World War II marked the zenith of political modernity.

Vittorio Emanuele Parsiis Professor of International Relations at Università Cattolica (Milan, Italy) and Director of ASERI (Graduate School of Economics and International Relations).

Chapter 1:The Liberal Order and the Broken Pact Between Democracy and Market.- PART I: OUT OF ROUTE.- Chapter 2: Titanic, or the Unsinkable Order: Origins, Expansion and Betrayal of the Liberal World Order (1945-2000).- Chapter 3: The Broken Promises that Hijacked the Liberal World Order: A Safer, Fairer, and Richer World.- PART II: THE FOUR SIDES OF THE ICEBERG.- Chapter 4: The Decline of American Leadership and the Rise of Chinese and Russian Authoritarian Powers.- Chapter 5: The Molecularization of the Threat:  Jihadist Terrorism, Islamist Radicalization, and the Mediterranean Migration Tragedy.- Chapter 6: The Drift of Trumps America in the Liberal World Order: From Reluctant Ruler-Maker to Revisionist Power.- Chapter 7: The Occultation of the People: How Sovereignist Populism, Stateless Actors and Technocratic Oligarchies Have Taken on Boarding Democracies.- PART III: A NORTHWEST PASSAGE.- Chapter 8: Changes at the Helm After the Crash? TransitionsWithin theLiberal World Order and the Challenges for Europe.-Conclusions The Neoliberal Global Order and COVID-19: Which Way Ahead?