Donald Trump and the Coming Test of International Order

Foreign policy experts suggest that Trump may pose a test to the post-WWII international order, led by the United States and shaped by alliances, an open economy and support for liberal institutions. For seven decades, Republican and Democratic administrations argued in favor such an order and assumed that the consequences of collapse would be enormous. Uri Friedman interviews several experts for the Atlantic: Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution argues that if Trump pulls out of alliances and the global economy, conflict will arise. Peter van Ham, an expert of transatlantic relations at the Clingendael Institute in the Netherlands, suggests that the order will be destroyed no matter what. A Trump presidency, he says, will force European nations to confront that decline and focus on securing their borders and investing in defense, at the expense of social programs. Until Trump begins to govern, no one can know for sure how the international order might change. – YaleGlobal