The Post-World War II Order Is Under Assault From the Powers That Built It<br />In the aftermath of World War II, the victorious Western countries forged institutions — NATO, the European Union, and the World Trade Organization —<br />that aimed to keep the peace through collective military might and shared prosperity.<br />“Many people in Europe and the United States have not benefited very much from overall economic growth over the past few decades,<br />and they are naturally skeptical of the policies and leaders in place,” said Douglas W. Elmendorf, dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.<br />In Poland, Hungary, Britain and Italy, distrust of the European Union reflects public anger<br />at its liberal immigration policies, and an influx of people from Muslim countries.<br />“From a European perspective, the shock comes from the fact<br />that the U. S. is now seen as a destabilizing force, like Russia, and ironically making China look more moderate.”<br />The institutions created after World War II have never lacked for critics — or instances of failing to live up to lofty rhetoric.<br />“The U. S. was always seen as a stabilizing force within the post-World War II order,” said Ms. Crespy of the Free University Brussels.<br />In the United States and Britain, working people have suffered joblessness and declining living standards while political leaders have prescribed policies<br />that have enriched the elite — more trade deals, fewer strictures on bankers.<br />Expanding NATO and the European Union by bringing in Eastern European nations was supposed to<br />have prompted the newcomers to adopt the liberal democratic values of their fellow members.
