The rules-based international order is dead because big countries simply choose not to follow rules when inconvenient, and the same principle applies to domestic life: no system can function if powerful actors opt out when rules are inconvenient.
factualpending
Speaker
Ben RhodesEvidence Quote
“no rules-based order can work if the big countries just choose not to follow the rules um by the way that's true in life as well as foreign policy you know... you only follow the rules when it is totally aligned with your interest and then the rest of the world sees that and they say well why should I follow these rules”
Source
Ben Rhodes: The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign Policy— Weatherhead Center for International AffairsCreated: 8/11/2026, 7:23:32 AM
My Notes
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