The post-Cold War era of U.S. hegemony was described as having achieved “the end of history.” It was a time when Western elites expected all nations to converge into liberal democracies practicing free-market capitalism. Thirty years later, we see the collapse of this belief both at home and abroad as we are now witnessing a revival of populism domestically and the rise of rival states internationally.

A new book from Quincy Institute Research Fellow Suzanne Loftus, Russia, China and the West in the Post – Cold War Era: The Limits of Liberal Universalism, looks at great power relations in the post-Cold War era from a structural and identity perspective. It analyzes the following aspects of the “post-Cold War” era: the management of the U.S.-led “liberal international order”; the deterioration of Russian-Western relations; and the normative and structural significance of the rise of China. It argues that the war in Ukraine is the result of conflicting norms and power structures that were not given the space to co-exist in the European geographical space. It also posits that multipolarity is already upon us and that we should not fear it or seek to prevent it by engaging in reckless and dangerous power struggles. Rather, multipolarity is an international arrangement that is manageable if pluralism and pragmatism are applied in U.S. policy.

To discuss these issues, Suzanne will be joined by two distinguished fellow panelists who will comment on the book and its arguments: Dr. Richard Sakwa, British political scientist, and Matthew Blackburn, Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). Anatol Lieven, Director of the Eurasia Program at the Quincy Institute, will moderate.