"The rules-based international order is fading," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently said at the World Economic Forum, describing the moment as a rupture rather than a transition.
For decades, he noted, countries like Canada prospered under the system — but it was sustained by what he called a partial fiction.
The strongest states, Carney said, routinely exempted themselves from the rules when it suited them, while international law was applied with uneven rigor, depending on who was accused and who was harmed.
Nations, he added, participated in the rituals of the order while largely avoiding the gap between rhetoric and reality. "That bargain no longer works," he said.
Offering a stark warning, Carney noted "the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must," and cautioned that compliance and concessions will not buy safety.
Reporter | Liu Xiaodi, Huang Yuhan (intern)
Video Editor | Li Yuqian (intern)
Video Script | Liu Xiaodi, Huang Yuhan (intern)
Cover Designer | Li Yuqian (intern)
Text | Liu Xiaodi, Huang Yuhan (intern)
Editor | Ou Xiaoming, Yuan Zixiang, James Campion, Shen He
