Rethinking liberal order: the EU and the quest for global justice

What are the implications of the crises facing the liberal international order (LIO) for the EU's ability to remain a relevant global actor? This introduction to the special section explores this question by studying both the nature of the LIO and the EU. It consequently argues that the challenges facing the LIO represent demands for more egalitarian relations, which the LIO cannot deliver. Abstract The liberal order is facing severe challenges. This article introduces a special section, ‘Liberal order, the EU and global political justice’, which assesses the implications of these challenges for the European Union and for its ability to remain a relevant global actor. To do so, the different contributions inquire into the interconnections between the normative premises of the EU's foreign policy within different issue areas and those of the liberal order. Presenting the core themes, this introductory article suggests that liberal order is not merely a descriptive but also a normative concept. Indicating how a well-ordered international system ought to be organized, the liberal order generates expectations of a contribution to global justice. The article further advances the hypothesis that the troubles of the liberal order are linked to its inability to fulfill these expectations. As the EU's legitimacy is bound up with that of the liberal script, this hypothesis implies a need to reconsider not only core features of liberal order, but also those of the EU's approach to it. Thus highlighting the relevance of normative factors and their capacity for disruption, the article contributes to filling gaps in scholarly literatures both on the challenges to the liberal order and on the changing role of the EU in an increasingly unsettled world.