Party contestation of foreign policy in the new global (dis)order: introduction

The Liberal International Order (LIO) faces challenges both from authoritarian powers and within multi-party democracies, where radical and populist parties resist liberal internationalism and societies struggle with the cultural and social influences of liberalism. Yet while the dual – internal and external – nature of the challenges to the LIO is obvious, it is still unclear if and how these two dimensions interact. This special issue aims to explore this link, with particular reference to national reactions to the Russia-Ukraine war. This introduction sets out linkages between polarizing trends in multi-party democracies and the growing contestation of international order; explains why the Russia-Ukraine war provides a lens to analyse the domestic contestation of international order; shows how domestic contestation will be shaped by combinations of national culture, party systems, and geopolitical considerations; and draws out patterns from the articles in the special issue. We find domestic contestation of the liberal order is close to ubiquitous in democracies. While on the surface Russia’s invasion galvanised the ‘global West’, a closer look reveals that this crisis has added to the burden of democracies wrestling with their own identities, and the kind of world order they want to see.