When precisely did the rules-based order die? The rules-based order is “fading”, in the middle of a “rupture” and there’s no going back. But outside Davos, the G7 and Nato, that is old news – many believed the rules-based order had expired long ago, depending on what moment you take as your watershed. As the custodians of the rules-based order contemplate its death and what may replace it, what they will realise is that much of it still has a pulse. The question for them now isn’t what can they can realistically build out of the ruins of the old order – that would suggest a clean break.

Source: The Guardian January 26, 2026 12:00 UTC