‘Regime change’

In the early years of the century, when neoconservatism peaked, the United States was set on imposing "regime change" on distant, hostile countries. The idea was to turn corrupt, nepotistic dictatorships into client states that - thanks to democracy and free markets - would look like America. The Iraq invasion in 2003 was to be the first step towards building a stable, "manageable" Middle East. We saw how that went. A quarter of a century later, it is the United States which faces "regime change," with the swift deconstruction of the state, with the undermining of the rule of law and customs which were considered a beacon for the rest of the world, and a blueprint for a new world order. 

Donald Trump's second presidential term signals the decisive retreat from the principles of liberal democracy and a return to the "big man" politics which were the historical norm and which...