Following the Second World War, the United States helped create a remarkable range of institutions, most notably the UN, NATO, and the International Monetary Fund. The goal of these institutions was to replace the wars, empires, and depressions of the past with peace, prosperity, and free trade. These new institutions and values were designed to anchor “the global order,” which the war against Ukraine, the rise of China, and tariff wars now threaten to undo. This course will look at how the institutions of the global order arose after WW II, how successful or flawed they have been, and how they have changed over the last 75 years, including the important role of nations in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. Finally, we will discuss what lessons for the future the changing history of the global order can offer.

Recommended but not required: The Origins of the Contemporary Global Order, ISBN 978-3-031-63893-0, is available in the Calvin University Campus Store or online.

Subject: history

Carl Strikwerda ’75 received his PhD in history from the University of Michigan, taught at the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Kansas, and served as dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at the College of William and Mary and as president of Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. A former historical consultant to the National World War One Museum, he is the author of The Origins of the Contemporary Global Order: From the Nineteenth Century to the Cold War (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).