About the event: The liberal, U.S.-led world order—set up in the wake of World War II and based on a system of U.S.-led alliances, multilateral institutions, open trade, and the defense of rules and norms such as freedom of navigation and non-aggression—seems to be dying if it is not already dead. But those welcoming or encouraging this development should be careful what they wish for. The U.S.-led order over the past 80 years was marred with many wars, injustices and inequalities, and the rules that were said to exist were often bent or broken. But it was also by far the most stable, secure and prosperous period in world history, and much of that was because U.S. power and global engagement underpinned it, deterred wars, kept sea lanes open, and promoted relatively free trade. Rather than complacently accepting its death—let alone celebrating or contributing to it—the next American president should set out to restore, improve, sustain, and sell the idea of an enlightened and U.S.-led world where leadership rules, values, institutions and norms still matter.

About the speaker: Philip H. Gordon is the Payne Lecturer at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford. He has served in a number of senior national security decision-making positions in the U.S. government, including as Assistant to the President and National Security Adviser to the Vice President in the Biden Administration and as White House Coordinator for the Middle East and Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in the Obama Administration. He is the author of numerous books about U.S. foreign policy and international relations including most recently, Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East which was named a "Book for the Century" by Foreign Affairs and writes regularly for the New York Times, Financial Times, Politico, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy and other publications.

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