Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System
Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818325101057) was written by Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman in 2025. It was published in International Organization (vol. 79).
The authors argue that the lenses of a Liberal International Order (LIO) or a Westphalian system are no longer applicable. They point to several current world leaders that defy these world orders--Erdoğan, Modi, Orbán, Mohammed bin Salman, Jinping, Putin, and most recently Trump.
- Sovereignty is not respected.
States and NGOs as the units of analysis are insufficient to understand their politics.
Policies weaken the state's own capacity/security/power, which is certainly incompatible with a realist model.
Best examples are Trump's threats against NATO and its members.
- 'Divine right' dogmas and exceptionalism are the bases for legitimacy.
Instead, the authors argue that there is a resurgence of patrimonial states and personal rule. They introduce the term neo-royalism.
- Cliques are the units of analysis. This term is selected to purposefully avoid the monarchial implication of 'dynasty'.
These center on someone with unrestricted authority; not necessarily the ex officio head of state.
They are vertically integrated; the powerful sectors which enable rule are integrated. Historically, think of the banking families that were tied to the Vatican, the Habsburgs, etc. Modernly, think of the big tech corporations that control communications and commerce.
Authors quote NYT: "Vietnam’s government sees Mr. Trump’s administration and the Trump Organization as one".
- Cliques compete for hierarchical/relative advantage.
- Cliques extract value for their in-group, not for the state.
Institutions which defy the legitimacy of cliques are denigrated, esp. the EU.
"Signaling the importance of inter-clique status, the Canadian prime minister took the rare move to invite King Charles to deliver a 'speech from the throne in Canada,' something that Queen Elizabeth did only twice in her reign."
The challenges to neo-royalism as a world order comes from:
- the aforementioned institutions which defy the legitimacy of cliques (again, esp. the EU); and
- world leaders which have embraced neo-royalism in domestic governance but stand to lose from the disappearance of the LIO, esp. Jinping
Reading notes
A further corroborating detail about 'inter-clique status': https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj69d89l8l5o