Who killed the Liberal International Order and what comes next?

For eighty years, Australia’s peace and prosperity have depended on a Liberal International Order—one shaped by U.S. leadership, multilateral cooperation, open markets, and democratic values. But that world order is now rapidly unravelling. Great power rivalries are intensifying, multilateral institutions are faltering, and democracy is besieged globally by a rising tide of autocracy. In this inaugural professorial lecture, Professor Andrew Phillips pursues the world’s most urgent ‘whodunnit’, asking who (or what) killed the Liberal International Order.

Was it “murdered” by rising authoritarian powers like China and Russia? Did the United States commit “suicide” by abdicating its leadership role? Or has the order simply grown old—undone by fading memories of the Second World War or the economic whiplash of globalisation?

Drawing on historical and contemporary examples, this lecture offers a post-mortem of the Liberal International Order’s decline—and asks what might emerge from its ruins. Will a new international order arise under Chinese leadership? Will the world fragment into feuding regional power-blocs? Will the world’s leaders ‘muddle through’, uniting to confront global catastrophic risks like climate change? Or is the entire idea of international order doomed to extinction, as the ‘rise of the robots’ portends a post-human future?

This event offers a compelling exploration of the global forces shaping our future—and why they matter for Australia, the Indo-Pacific, and the world.  

Event details

Date: Wednesday 17 September 2025
Time: 4:45pm for 5–6:15pm followed by light refreshments
Location: Room 275, Global Change Institute (20) UQ St Lucia (view map)

Professor Andrew Phillips 

Professor Andrew Phillips is a leading scholar of International Relations and Strategy at The University of Queensland’s School of Political Science and International Studies. He holds a PhD from Cornell University.

His research examines Great Power rivalry, asymmetric violence (including terrorism), and international orders’ historical evolution from 1500 CE to the present. Professor Phillips has published widely in this area, including influential books such as War, Religion and Empire: The Transformation of International Orders (Cambridge UP, 2011), International Order in Diversity (with J.C. Sharman, Cambridge UP, 2015), Outsourcing Empire (with J.C. Sharman, Princeton, 2020), and How the East Was Won (Cambridge UP, 2021). He has won numerous awards for this research, from organisations including the American Political Science Association, the International Studies Association and the Australian Political Studies Association.

From 2024 to 2028, he is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow investigating how rising powers in Asia have historically achieved regional dominance. He regularly contributes to Professional Military Education, including through frequent service as a Visiting Fellow at the Australian War College. He has also contributed to public commentary, including as an ABC commentator on the Trump Presidency and its implications for global order.