Fareed Zakaria: Liberal International Order Has Not Lost Its Vigour

The liberal international order has not lost its vigour, despite the deterioration of the situation in a number of regions, argues Fareed Zakaria, Host of Fareed Zakaria GPS and CNN.

He expressed this opinion in a debate with Niall Ferguson, Senior Fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University, at the 16th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting, “Happiness Now. New Approaches for a World in Crisis”, organised by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

“The liberal international order was never ideal but the reality is that we live under this model. The liberal international order is still pretty strong, regardless of contextual deterioration”, he said.

Fareed Zakaria stressed that after 1945, tremendous changes occurred in the world, and these were the result of improved international cooperation and the emergence of the international liberal order.

“During the whole preceding history, there had been wars, famines, autocracies and, honestly, history had been functioning in cycles: there was no special progress. After 1945, something extraordinary happened: we saw huge changes, more peace, stability, international cooperation and membership of various countries in alliances,” he added.

The TV presenter is convinced that liberal capitalism has changed the lives of millions of people for the better, for example, in India and China. 

“The Liberal international order has stimulated an increase in wealth for many people. There has been an extraordinary transformation of the lives of disadvantaged people, and this happened because their countries benefited from global trends”, Fareed Zakaria concluded.