ABSTRACT. The main objective of this paper is to explore and describe the liberal understanding of international order, the resurgence of great-power politics, and the absence of a global institution that could facilitate and implement democratic ideals. The theory that I shall seek to elaborate here puts considerable emphasis on democracy as a source of legitimacy in politics beyond the nation-state, power-related concerns of the US and China about global politics, and the underlying relationship between order and change. pp. 82–87

Keywords: international order, global politics, change, democracy