【大学院課題例】自由主義的国際秩序を維持する３つの方法 （英語論文サンプル）

下記は、イギリスの大学院で課題用に書いたエッセイです。大学院に通っている方、又は通う予定の方に参考になれば幸いです。（改めて読み返すと修正すべき点が多々あるのですが、参考になるよう、修正せずに掲載します。）

課題

安全保障のコースで、下記のトピックについて政策文書（Policy Paper）を書く課題です。フォーマットが細かく決まっていて、特に「誰でも読めるように」と指示がありました。したがって、できるだけ簡単な単語で、基本的な背景から説明しています。

Joseph Biden’s restoration of the international liberal order. (1,500 Words)

エッセイ

3 Ways to Build Back Better International Liberal Order

Executive Summary

The international liberal order is in crisis. The Biden administration has planned to fix the order. However, although the plan may fix the order, it is not enough to construct better order to correspond to the global power transition. First, this paper discusses why the international liberal order is in crisis and why it needs to be strengthened. Second, this paper lays out three policy options: empowering like-minded partners, co-solving problems of interdependence, and building coherent coalitions. These policies enable the Biden administration not just to fix the order but build back better international liberal order.

How Did We Get Here?

Introduction

As G. John Ikenberry, a professor at Princeton University, stated, future historians may mark the spring of 2020 as “the end of the liberal world order.” It was when the US-led liberal order faced a disastrous Covid-19 pandemic and economic catastrophe under the Trump administration who actively undermined the order. On March 3rd, 2021, the Biden administration laid out its plan to fix the order through Interim National Security Strategy Guidance (INSSG). It calls for an immediate restoration of the order, noting that “this work is urgent, because the alliances, institutions, agreements, and norms underwriting the international order the United States helped to establish are being tested.”

However, this plan may repair the order, but it will not build a better one. The plan narrowly focuses on fixing what Trump has damaged during his presidency. The administration needs to step back and look at the big picture. The cause of the crisis is not just what Trump has done for the past four years. It is deeply rooted in the gradual diffusion of power in the world. The Biden administration should further consider its plan and take more comprehensive ways to build back better international order.

Why Is It in Crisis?

The crisis of the liberal order can be traced to the collapse of the Soviet Union. International liberal order can be defined as “a project that seeks to promote the security and well-being of the broad segments of liberal democratic society.” However, the gradual collapse of the liberal order ironically started when the Cold War ended. During the Cold War, the liberal order was one of two orders in the bipolar world. Another was the Soviet-led communism order. When the Soviet Union fell, the liberal order was globalized under the American unipolar world. In 1999, British prime minister Tony Blair symbolically said in his speech: “We are all internationalists now, whether we like it or not.”

The diffusion of power in the world undermined the international liberal order. Over the last three decades, as it has integrated a growing number of countries, the liberal order has revealed a deficiency in solving international issues, including climate change, terrorism, weapons proliferation, and global health security. The primary cause of the crisis is the diffusion of power, specifically the rise of China and the relative decline of the US. Even though China has benefited from the US-led liberal order, it has become more illiberal and more assertive, particularly under the Xi administration since 2012. Under Xi’s leadership, China has started pursuing what it sees as a “more appropriate and justifiable international order.” Now, China is using its growing wealth and power to “challenge and reorient this [international liberal] order.” As a result, it has become more difficult to make agreements inside the order than liberalism first assumed.

For the US, the clear turning point was when Trump took office as the 45th US president in 2016. During his four years of presidency, he proactively undermined the US leadership in the liberal order by threatening alliances, multilateralism, international law, environment, trade, and human rights. He claimed that NATO obsolete and suggested that Japan and South Korea develop their own nuclear weapons. In his inauguration address, he stated that “we’ve defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own,” and added, “from this moment on, it’s going to be America First.” Yet, one should be cautious that Trump did not shift the course of the collapsing order. He only presented greater difficulty. Thus, narrowly focusing on what Trump has done to the order misleads the strategy to reinforce the liberal order.

Why is the Liberal Order Important?

It is important to question why the Biden administration needs to strengthen the international liberal order. Stanley Hoffmann stated that “the essence of liberalism is self-restraint, moderation, compromise and peace, whereas the essence of international politics is exactly the opposite: troubled peace, at best, or the state of war.” Despite current difficulties, the international liberal order has arguably made the world safer. It provided a framework for countries such as Japan and West Germany to integrate into a common security community as peaceful great powers. As a vice president of the Obama administration, Biden proclaimed the importance of the liberal order at the World Economic Forum in 2017. He told the audience that building and sustaining the liberal order was “the bedrock of the success that the world enjoyed in the second half of the 20th century.” Thus, defending the order has been a central task of US foreign policy. Yet, only defending or repairing the order is not enough. It needs to be strengthened to correspond to the diffusion of power in the 21st century.

3 Ways to Build Back Better

There are three policy options that enable the Biden administration not just to fix but build back better international liberal order.

1. Empower like-minded partners

Corresponding to the long-term global power transition, the US needs to empower like-minded partners. Although Biden has vowed to restore relationships with allies and partners in INSSG, restoring relationships is not enough to build better order. He should empower like-minded partners to further reinforce security posture based on liberal order. The UK has shown its will to share greater responsibility by revealing its newly published Integrated Review. Also, key partners like Japan and Australia have shown willingness to take greater responsibility, including helping smaller countries develop their strategies in Asia. Moreover, the administration should consider enlarging the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing relationship, providing reasonable price military transfers and naval capacity building for like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

2. Co-solve problems of interdependence

Ikenberry defines the international liberal order as an order “to manage the modern problems of interdependence.” Biden has signaled to Xi, over a phone call and in INSSG, for the greater US-China cooperation on common security issues, including climate change, weapons proliferation, and global health security. However, this will not be an easy task, regarding the increase in tension between two countries on the human rights issues in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Uighur. Therefore, rather than sticking to the US-led initiative, Biden should also explore other multilateral cooperation frameworks to attract China’s attention. A good starting point can be realizing “Data Free Flow with Trust,” an international framework led by the World Economic Forum for improving transparency and data sharing concerning problems of interdependence. Such frameworks would improve the global security environment, strengthen the liberal order, and have less international political friction.

3. Build coherent coalitions

In his 2020 presidential campaign pledge and INSSG, Biden committed to hosting a global summit for democracy during his first year in office. Regarding the global shift of power, such a coalition of democratic countries will firmly reinforce mutual security protection through the international liberal order. However, a thorny issue is whom to send invitations to. Forming a grand coalition may look intriguing. However, the Biden administration should be aware that the big coalition may easily turn out to be one of many multilateral conferences where “the congress dances but does not progress.” Instead, the Biden administration should focus on constructing a coherent coalition. Holding the virtual Quad summit (the US, Japan, India, and Australia) was a strategically good move. The administration should further consider making D-10, the alliance of democracy (the G7 countries plus India, Australia, and South Korea) as a regular summit. D-10 was proposed by British prime minister Boris Johnson and will replace this year’s G7. These frameworks will further reinforce cooperative security based on the liberal order.

Conclusion

The liberal order is in crisis. Although the Biden administration has vowed to repair the order, it is not enough to construct a better one. The plan narrowly focuses on fixing what Trump has damaged to the order. The administration needs to step back and look at the big picture. The primary cause of the crisis is the global power shift, particularly the rise of China and the relative decline of the US. The administration should further consider comprehensive approaches to correspond to the diffusion of power in the world. This paper laid out three policies: empowering like-minded partners, co-solving problems of interdependence, and building coherent coalitions. These policies will not just fix the order but build back better international liberal order.

Endnotes

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