Authoritarians need not prove that they are superior to democracies, they just need to show that liberal democracies are not superior to them. They undermine the case for democracies by showing that democracies are no more adept at providing public goods to their citizens, addressing inequality or generating politicians capable of subordinating their own personal interests to the broader good of the country.

This dynamic leads to a vicious cycle: advanced democracies continue to flail due to their inability to adequately confront their own political divisions, authoritarians subsequently exploit democratic weakness by pushing the bounds of the international system, the resulting damage to the liberal order further corrodes the standing of the United States and its democratic allies. If anything, the erosion of the liberal international order is a result of internal democratic backsliding rather than the other way around.

The coming weeks in Ukraine will go a long way towards determining whether this order will survive. Ukrainians have courageously resisted the Russian onslaught and even beaten it back. At this stage, it is entirely possible that they might even defeat Russia. Western democracies have shed their reservations and have tightened an economic vise around Moscow. It is possible that Putin might yet escalate the conflict by resorting to tactical nuclear weapons. Or he might find some face-saving way to back down. The world waits, holding its breath.