Racism and Anti-racism in the Liberal International Order

Abstract

Formal racial equality is a key aspect of the current Liberal International Order (LIO). It is subject to two main challenges: resurgent racial nationalism and substantive racial inequality. Combining work in International Relations with interdisciplinary studies on race, I submit that these challenges are the latest iteration of struggles between two transnational coalitions over the LIO’s central racial provisions, which I call racial diversity regimes (RDRs). The traditional coalition has historically favored RDRs based on racial inequality and racial nationalism. The trans-formative coalition has favored RDRs based on racial equality and non-racial nationalism. I illustrate the argument by tracing the development of the liberal order’s RDR from one based on racial nationalism and inequality in 1919 to the current regime based on non-racial nationalism and limited equality. Today, racial nationalists belong to the traditional coalition and critics of racial inequality are part of the trans-formative coalition. The stakes of their struggles are high because they will determine whether we will live in a more racist or a more anti-racist world. The paper articulates a comprehensive framework that places race at the heart of the liberal order, offers the novel concept of “embedded racism” to capture how sovereignty shields domestic racism from foreign interference, and proposes an agenda for mainstream International Relations that takes race seriously.