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Liberal internationalism in the context of the contemporary theoretical debates

Gutorov V.A.,

Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia, gut-50@mail.ru

elibrary_id: 72442 | ORCID: 0000-0001-8063-2558 | RESEARCHER_ID: F-7724-2013

Samarin, Ya.V.,

Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia, johney_walker@mail.ru

elibrary_id: 821228 |

Article received: 2025.04.04 19:33. Accepted: 2025.06.20 19:33


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2025.05.11
EDN: DVOFBB

Rubric: Reflecting on matters in print

For citation:

Gutorov V.A., Samarin, Ya.V. Liberal internationalism in the context of the contemporary theoretical debates. – Polis. Political Studies. 2025. No. 5. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2025.05.11. EDN: DVOFBB (In Russ.)

Abstract

In modern political science, the study of the ideological legacy of Woodrow Wilson, the 28^th President of the United States (1913-1921), still retains the status of a completely independent analytical segment. The book by Michael R. Cude, the American historian “Woodrow Wilson: The First World War and Modern Internationalism” published by Routledge in 2024, is of undoubted interest to specialists in a wide variety of fields of humanities. The author has set himself the broad task of analyzing not only the diverse historical problems of Wilson’s foreign policy during the First World War, but also of examining a number of theoretical issues related to the formation of a new post-war international system, as well as problems of global governance, nationalism, decolonization, etc. The contemporary scientific literature presents very contrasting, often diametrically opposed theoretical approaches and ethical judgments regarding Wilsonianism as a historical and political phenomenon. Today, it is impossible to ignore the obvious contradictions associated with the specifically personal aspects of the active influence of Wilson’s ideas on US policy in the 20th – early 21st centuries. Their historical and theoretical analysis gives rise to new ideological collisions, constantly provoking tense and complex theoretical discussions. The starting point of these discussions is determined by the analysis of the historical process as a result of which, in Woodrow Wilson’s “conceptual politics” “liberal democratic internationalism becomes synonymous with Wilsonianism” (Tony Smith). The essence of these problems was summarized by Guilford D. Ikenberry in the form of “five points”, which currently constitute a kind of “matrix” by which one can compare the variable interpretations of Wilsonianism in general and liberal internationalism in particular. Without ignoring the above-mentioned points in their essence, M. Cude adopts a completely unique position. One of the most important points of the characteristics of the evolution of Wilson’s worldview presented in his book is the substantiation of the thesis according to which liberal internationalism cannot initially be considered as the “basic element” of the American president’s policy. A radical turn in the theoretical discussion emerged after Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election. The nature of the arguments of the proponents of the new concepts of “civilizational Wilsonianism” and “alternative understanding of the Wilsonian tradition” is that “in fact, there was much more continuity between Wilson and Trump than it initially seems” (A. Gawthorpe).

Keywords

Woodrow Wilson, World War I, Wilsonianism, political idealism, liberal internationalism, democracy, world politics, historical discourses, political theory.

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