Selective Moralism and Multipolar Legitimacy: A Behavioural Political Economy of Trust, Sovereignty, and Security Beyond the Western-Led Liberal Order

Abstract

This article theorizes contestation over international order in behavioural political economy terms of trust, sovereignty, security, and moral legitimacy in a multipolar age. Unlike Western Realists or Offshore Balancers who interpret challenges to international order as outright rejection of international norms by non-Western states, this article posits that non-Western states are contesting perceived Western hypocrisy in the selective enforcement of purportedly universal moral norms by liberal powers.  The article advances conceptual synthesis and literature critique of research on legitimacy and trust, international norms and culture, liberal international order, Global International Relations scholarship and multipolarity. Conceptually, the article approaches legitimacy as a behavioural and relational asset predicated on perceptions of consistency, procedural fairness, restraint and reciprocity in scrutiny. Findings: The article conceptualizes the Behavioural Legitimacy Contestation Model. The model dynamically connects perceived moral inconsistency with trust erosion, legitimacy contestation, sovereignty alternative claiming and multipolar security narratives. The model also suggests why sovereignty, non-intervention, civilizational independence and security appeals can still garner constituencies even when the states championing those causes may themselves be morally contestable.  This article argues that the crisis of Western-led liberal order is not only a crisis of power transition or institutional sclerosis; it is also crisis of moral credibility. For Asian middle powers and societies, the behavioural implication is that the solution is not to replace one monopoly of moral claim with another, but to hold all claims of power to the same criteria of consistency, restraint, accountability and social consequence. The argument has practical relevance for regional social science and policy analysis.