4th Year
What is meant by ‘post-war international order’? How does this affect your perspective on global politics today?
Write
This reflection explores the concept of a post-war international order and its ongoing influence on global politics today. I will outline the core features of the order and reflect on how learning about it in both the textbook and lectures has influenced my understanding of contemporary global issues.
The post-war international order refers to the treaties that emerged after World War 2, designed to prevent another global war and promote international stability. Western ideals, therefore, characterise post-war international politics, rules-based institutions and state sovereignty. International politics and globalisation created a world economy, with economic liberalisation and the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
The Cold War was particularly significant for its impact on globalisation, across trade, economics, and political ideals. The conflict was deeply embedded in the divide between capitalism and communism. The two competing systems redefined the global economy. As a result, the world was in a “bipolar” state between two superpowers, America and the USSR, whose rivalries often played out through proxy conflicts across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Further, the collapse of the USSR dissolved the bipolar system and transformed the world into a unipolar order dominated by America. The end of the Cold War in 1991 led to the removal of both ideological and economic barriers, allowing former Soviet nation-states to join the global market. The 2008 Global Financial Crisis revealed an intrinsic contemporary factor in international politics. British scholar Anthony McGrew (2020) argues that the Global Financial Crisis expanded the influence of economies such as China, Brazil and India within the developed global system, reshaping the global power structure (McGrew 2020, p. 20).
Studying this topic has shifted my worldview on international issues. Before learning about the post-war international order, I tended to see global events as largely isolated. I now understand how interconnected global affairs are, particularly after the fall of the USSR (1991) and the Global Financial Crisis (2009). In-depth concepts such as bipolarity and unipolarity, systemic risks and power shifts have reshaped my understanding of international tensions, particularly political ideologies; currently, China and America. Further, the Russia-Ukraine war and its global economic consequences are new to me, and this demonstrated how detrimental conflict can be on an international scale. By studying this material, I have also come to question whether the post-war international order is becoming increasingly more unstable, as the shift from unipolarity to multipolarity is reshaping the international economy and politics.
In conclusion, understanding the post-war international order is essential because it explains how modern institutions, alliances and economic systems were constructed in response to global conflict. World War I, World War II and the Cold War were not isolated events but turning points that reshaped power, created new norms and established the foundations of contemporary international politics. Recognising this history influences my perspective by demonstrating today’s global issues—including rising multipolarity, human rights debates and great-power tensions—are rooted in the structures built after 1945. The post-war international order, therefore, remains central to understanding how and why global politics functions as it does today. McGrew (2020) describes the volatile nature of international politics and globalisation in the current context by stating that “the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine have coalesced the perfect storm which threatens to reverse globalisation” (McGrew 2020, p. 26), he therefore reinforces the notion that globalisation is not entirely linear or inevitable, instead international order is vulnerable to political and economic impacts.
References
McGrew, A. 2020, ‘Globalization and global politics’, in J. Baylis, S. Smith & P. Owens (eds), The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations, 8th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 19-35.
