Perspective: American pundits say Putin is undermining the international order. But the ability of great powers to ignore the rules is a lamentable part of the system.
The meaning and value of “rules-based orders” — whether in the domestic context or the international — always depend on who gets to decide when the rules apply. We like to think the purpose of our rules-based order at home — the “rule of law” is the usual phrase for it — is domestic peace and security. It sometimes works: Laws prohibit much grievous harm, the police keep people safe, and the criminal justice system tries the accused and punishes the convicted.
The United States also seeks exceptions for itself. Critics of the United States have not tired over the years of warning that we would have no standing to indict others’ aggressive acts, given our own actions. When Putin, in his irate harangue days before the Ukraine invasion, pointed to American hypocrisy about the use of force, he was being cynical but not untruthful.
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