In the West, Rival Networks are Contesting the Meaning of Liberalism

In this essay, Clifford Bob, professor and chair of political science and the Raymond J. Kelley endowed chair in international relations at Duquesne University, critiques academic research programs premised on a dichotomy between liberal and illiberal regimes. Bob cites both the European Union’s Digital Services Act regulating online speech and Biden and Trump administration moves to control speech as evidence of “liberal” institutions behaving in “illiberal” ways. Bob suggests that rather than viewing the international system as a contest between liberal and illiberal regimes, it should be viewed as a battle between rival networks within and across states and international institutions.

A rebuttal by IGCC research director for democracy and global governance, Stephan Haggard, as well as Bob’s response to the rebuttal, can be found in a companion post, “A Debate on What Liberalism Is and Isn’t.”