The SPSA Annual Conference 2019 & Dreiländertagung

«The End of the West? Liberal Orders under Pressure »

In 1989, the "West" seemed to have become the undisputedly dominant formation of world politics. In 2019, it is under massive internal and external attack.

The "West" is defined by the interplay of liberal domestic and international orders. The common commitment to liberal human rights, the rule of law and democracy underpins the Western community of values; open and rights-based societies find their equivalent in an open and rights-based international order. The election of President Trump in the US and the Brexit referendum in the UK put in question the foundations of the “West” in two of its pioneering nations. The electoral successes of populist parties challenge the liberal state, European integration and the liberal international order from within; from outside, it is the emerging China and an assertive Russia.

The congress sets itself the task of investigating the development of domestic and international liberal regimes, their interaction and the crisis of the "West" from a political science perspective and in collaboration with the Austrian, German, and Swiss political science associations.