Terrorist deaths have increased dramatically since 2002: there were fewer than 800 terrorist deaths globally in 2002, versus almost 15,000 in the most recent year referenced, with the majority concentrated in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria, indicating that civil wars are the primary fuel and incubator for global terrorism.

The liberal international order was presented publicly as being created to spread democracy, markets, and well-being globally, but in practice it was also driven by US geopolitical interests in containing communism, meaning that where democracy promotion conflicted with anti-communist interests, democracy promotion was consistently subordinated.

Russia and China, after the Cold War, viewed the unipolar moment and US dominance negatively, perceived US military and economic interference in their spheres of influence as illegitimate, and strategically responded by using the tools of the global international order against the US to push back against American hegemony.

The infrastructure global order—comprising rules for maritime trade, transoceanic cables, satellite communications, computer networks, international postal agreements, telecommunications protocols—exists largely in the private sector beneath public awareness and is remarkably durable and functional despite political conflict, because these technical systems depend on global cooperation to work.

All nations and actors see the world through their own selfish national interests using realist logic; they prioritize goals and do what they can to achieve them regardless of effects on the international order; only powerful states have the ability to shape the global order to meet their national self-interest, creating perpetual competition over who gets to define the order's rules.

There is a 'retreat of the state' occurring over decades as multinational corporations, trillions of dollars in daily wealth flows, and multinational capital investments restructure governments and displace state authority, which is disruptive to societies globally including the United States and the developing world.