America First

The Collapse of the Liberal Global Order Luis Tejada

By: Luis Tejada

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The beginning of the 21st century has been marked by a quiet yet profound transformation of the international system. For decades after the end of the Cold War, a broad consensus took hold: the liberal global order—grounded in economic openness, interdependence, and the spread of democratic values—was not merely a historical phase, but the inevitable destination of world politics. Yet beneath that apparent stability lay structural tensions that, over time, began to erode its foundations.

It is within this context that the figure of Donald Trump emerged. His political rise cannot be understood as an isolated event or a temporary anomaly. Rather, it should be seen as the visible expression of a broader process: the return of nationalism as a structural force in contemporary politics. This return does not represent a simple revival of 20th-century nationalism, but the emergence of a new variant shaped by globalization, the digital revolution, and the fragmentation of international power.

Twenty-first-century nationalism does not arise in a vacuum. It is, to a large extent, a cumulative reaction to the uneven consequences of globalization. Over recent decades, global economic integration has generated unprecedented levels of growth and connectivity, but it has also produced significant imbalances within societies. While some sectors—particularly those tied to finance, technology, and the knowledge economy—have benefited substantially, others have faced stagnation, precarity, or a loss of economic relevance. This contrast has fueled a sense of exclusion that, over time, has evolved into political discontent.

The implicit promise of the liberal global order was that open markets, free trade, and international cooperation would lead to shared prosperity and gradual convergence among nations. However, that promise began to be questioned when large segments of the population in advanced economies perceived that the benefits of the system were not being distributed equitably. Deindustrialization, job displacement, and rising inequality all contributed to weakening the model’s legitimacy.

Alongside these economic dynamics came an equally significant cultural transformation. Globalization has not only integrated markets, but also identities, values, and ways of life. The spread of cosmopolitan norms, increased migration, and growing cultural diversity introduced patterns of change that were not embraced uniformly across societies. For some, these shifts represented openness and enrichment; for others, they brought a sense of dislocation, uncertainty, and loss of familiar reference points.
At this juncture, nationalism began to reconfigure itself as a political response offering certainty in the face of complexity. Unlike its more rigid historical forms, this new nationalism presents itself as a flexible discourse, blending economic, cultural, and strategic elements. At its core lies the idea of reclaiming control: control over borders, over the economy, over identity, and ultimately over the political destiny of the nation.