ABSTRACT This article proposes that empire serves as a suitable framework for understanding how and why the liberal international order is exhibiting symptoms of ‘imperial overstretch’. Noting that many of its critics and opponents subscribe to a simplistic and yet powerful narrative that views liberal internationalism as a pseudo-imperial project, it shows that detractors tend to perceive democracy promotion and globalisation as the two main instruments of an order-building endeavour that is remoulding international structures along imperial lines to reflect liberal values and institutions. Within the transatlantic community, critics from the left resent liberal internationalism for its corporate greed, its imperialistic tendencies, wars of intervention, and the veneer of humanitarianism that disguises its ideology of a ‘civilising mission’. Critics from the right fear the erosion of national boundaries and the subversion of the nation-state as a result of mass migration, the dilution of national identities, and the constant meddling of supra-national organisations. Externally, the order is under attack by revisionist states, competitors, and violent non-state actors. Ideological incompatibility and differences in motives notwithstanding, these hostile forces are increasingly united in their struggle against the liberal order – with the risks of its possible disintegration all too familiar to the students of empire.

中文翻译：

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帝国预测与危机：作为“伪帝国”的自由国际秩序

摘要 本文提出，帝国可以作为理解自由国际秩序如何以及为何表现出“帝国过度扩张”症状的合适框架。注意到它的许多批评者和反对者都赞同一种将自由国际主义视为伪帝国项目的简单而有力的叙述，它表明批评者倾向于将民主促进和全球化视为建立秩序努力的两个主要工具，正在沿着帝国路线重塑国际结构，以反映自由价值观和制度。在跨大西洋社区内，左派批评者憎恨自由国际主义的企业贪婪、帝国主义倾向、干预战争以及掩盖其“文明使命”意识形态的人道主义外衣。右派批评者担心，由于大规模移民、民族认同的淡化以及对超国家组织的不断干预，国家边界会被侵蚀，民族国家会被颠覆。在外部，该秩序受到修正主义国家、竞争者和暴力非国家行为者的攻击。尽管意识形态不相容且动机不同，但这些敌对势力在反对自由秩序的斗争中日益团结起来——帝国的学生们对自由秩序可能瓦解的风险非常熟悉。该秩序受到修正主义国家、竞争者和暴力的非国家行为者的攻击。尽管意识形态不相容且动机不同，但这些敌对势力在反对自由秩序的斗争中日益团结起来——帝国的学生们对自由秩序可能瓦解的风险非常熟悉。该秩序受到修正主义国家、竞争者和暴力的非国家行为者的攻击。尽管意识形态不相容且动机不同，但这些敌对势力在反对自由秩序的斗争中日益团结起来——帝国的学生们对自由秩序可能瓦解的风险非常熟悉。