This work investigates the resilience and internal contradictions of the liberal script as the dominant global political framework at the turn of the 21st century. The authors, Tanja A. Börzel, Johannes Gerschewski, and Michael Zürn, utilize a comparative political framework to analyze how liberal norms—such as individual rights, market economies, and democratic governance—are contested both within established Western states and across the international order. By synthesizing empirical data on democratic backsliding and institutional erosion, the authors argue that the liberal script faces a crisis of legitimacy driven by internal polarization and external challenges to its universalist claims.

Experts in international relations identify this text as a rigorous academic inquiry into the structural vulnerabilities of contemporary liberalism. Readers frequently note the dense, analytical nature of the prose, which is intended for scholars and advanced students of political science.