ABSTRACT
The world is experiencing a significant resistance to the established liberal democratic order and a resurgence of nationalist tendencies. This chapter outlines the numerous challenges to that order from within the system itself before turning to an assessment of the efforts by Russia to undermine and replace that order. The world is experiencing an age of mass migration and has already been transformed by the globalisation of goods, services and information, but is now witnessing the ‘globalisation of people’, which ignites a more emotional reaction among the public. The chapter discusses the Russian-Western relationship after the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics up to its current security challenges after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and de facto invasion of eastern and southern Ukraine. The election of Donald Trump poses another important challenge to the liberal order as the United States has always been its leader and has now elected a President that prioritises nationalism and realism in international relations.
