A post-Western World in the Making The Conceptual Framework

The capacity of the liberal West to achieve a normative consensus and shape the international order is decreasing. In this context, the West has become both contested and contestant. Internally, rising inequality, emerging populism and political polarisation have undermined the consensus on liberal values in Western democracies. Externally, the rise of China and the consolidation of increasingly autonomous forms of regional governance in South-East Asia, Africa, and Latin America have led scholars to question the resilience of Western hegemony, resulting in the emergence of a normatively, institutionally, and economically more plural international order. The special issue provides an original perspective on how the international order has been evolving, integrating non-Western interests and norms with Western and liberal features. The introduction offers key concepts and theoretical framework to provide the relevant context for readers to address the contributions included in the special issue.