Credit: NATO
The recent World Economic Forum in Davos was a disaster for anyone who believes in the benefits of liberal internationalism. This annual gathering of world leaders and the ultra-rich is traditionally devoted to celebrating globalization, but the latest conference may yet go down in history as the place where globalization ended. In the run-up to the forum, the leader of the world’s oldest and most powerful democracy, America, threatened to invade another democracy, Denmark. That’s not supposed to happen. Democracies do not go to war with each other. President Donald Trump thankfully backed down in Davos. European unity—in combination with American constraints on presidential power, such as the stock market, Congress, and public opinion—compelled Trump to blink. He accepted some vague “framework” agreement as a consolation prize. But the damage was done. The…
