Externe Publikationen

Shifting parameters: contestation and the future of the International Order

in: The Defence Horizon Journal (Special Issue 02/2025), 4

Information

Power shifts have long shaped international relations, but today’s rapid pace of change is unprecedented. The second Trump administration challenges existing norms, institutions, and decision-making forums at their core. While violations of international norms are not new—Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022 being a prime example—most actors still attempt to justify or reinterpret such actions within a normative framework. China and Russia, for instance, constantly seek to redefine and use terms like “multilateralism” and “democracy” to align with their own political models. The U.S. has traditionally been at the centre of Western efforts to defend a rules-based international system, as well as liberal democratic and marketoriented structures. However, the Trump administration openly undermines this order. Even Agenda 2030 and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—a voluntary global consensus— are dismissed as instruments of “soft global governance” allegedly threatening U.S. interests and sovereignty (U.S. Mission to the UN, 2025).