Capitalist Competition and the Liberal International Order

Abstract

The article addresses the relation between economic competition and international relations, more specifically the relation between the capitalist economic system and the interstate system. In this regard, the respective literature, which has evolved around issues such as uneven and combined development or the necessity of multiple nation-states for capitalism, is appraised. Attention is also given to the rising powers predicament and to how, in the era of globalization, a challenge is posed by them to the existing governance order. Overall, important questions had already been asked since the beginnings of the previous century during times of dramatic global change. Ever since, both economic and political orders/systems have undergone some sort of evolution or transformation. Yet, in the global trajectory, the notion of competition or antagonism retains its relevance.