Illiberal At Home: Shift of the U.S. Domestic Order

Abstract

The rise of the Trump administration has fundamentally challenged the traditional role of the United States as the anchor of the liberal international order. While much existing scholarship has focused disproportionately on international constraints and geopolitical strategy and the mechanisms by which the administration contributed to the expansion of this illiberal global order, this analysis addresses the critical observation that the primary source of instability lies in domestic institutional failure and authoritarian actions within the U.S. itself. This paper argues that the restoration of the liberal order is highly unlikely unless US foreign policy begins “at home” by undertaking rapid reform of American political institutions to address internal illiberalism.