THE INTERREGNUM

Confronted with the 'mobster diplomacy' of Donald Trump, the world finds itself in a transitional moment as the rules-based global order, its institutions and value system face a crisis of credibility and legitimacy

- Patrick Wintour

THE ITALIAN MARXIST PHILOSOPHER Antonio Gramsci famously wrote, "and the new world struggles to be born." In such interregnums, he suggested, "every act, even the smallest, may acquire decisive weight".

In 2025, western leaders appeared convinced they - and we - were now living through one such transitional period, with the world of international relations established after the second world war crashing to a halt.

During such interregnums, Gramsci more famously wrote "morbid phenomena of the most varied kind come to pass". And at present there is no more morbid phenomenon than the crisis of legitimacy for the networks of rules and laws on which the international order was based - that Franklin D Roosevelt laid the groundwork for and the US presidency was central to creating in 1945.

No one can say they were not warned about the wrecking ball that was about to be inflicted on the global order by Donald Trump, the current holder of that office.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in his senate confirmation hearing in January spelled out with admirable clarity how Trump disowned the world his predecessors had made.