As International Organization commemorates its seventy-fifth anniversary, the Liberal International Order (LIO) that authors in this journal have long analyzed is under challenge, perhaps as never before. The articles in this issue explore the nature of these challenges by examining how the Westphalian order and the LIO have co-constituted one another over time; how both political and economic dynamics internal to the LIO threaten its core aspects; and how external threats combine with these internal dynamics to render the LIO more fragile than ever before. This introduction begins by defining and clarifying what is “liberal,” “international,” and “orderly” about the LIO. It then discusses some central challenges to the LIO, illustrated by the contributors to this issue as well as other sources. Finally, we reflect on the analytical lessons we have learned—or should learn—as the study of the LIO, represented by scholarship in International Organization, has sometimes overlooked or marginalized dynamics that now appear central to the functioning, and dysfunction, of the order itself.

中文翻译：

---

对自由秩序的挑战：对国际组织的思考

作为国际组织为纪念其 75 周年，本刊作者长期分析的自由国际秩序 (LIO) 正面临挑战，或许前所未有。本期文章通过研究威斯特伐利亚秩序和 LIO 如何随着时间的推移共同构成彼此，来探讨这些挑战的性质；LIO 内部的政治和经济动态如何威胁其核心方面；以及外部威胁如何与这些内部动态相结合，使 LIO 比以往任何时候都更加脆弱。本介绍首先定义和阐明了 LIO 的“自由”、“国际”和“有序”。然后，它讨论了 LIO 面临的一些核心挑战，这些挑战由该问题的贡献者以及其他来源进行了说明。最后，国际组织，有时会忽略或边缘化现在看来对秩序本身的运作和功能障碍至关重要的动态。