The crisis or even decay of the Liberal International Order has become a buzzword in the field of International Relations recently. However, our conceptual and empirical understanding of such a crisis or decay remains severely limited. Not only does the meaning of international order oscillate between different works, so does the meaning of crisis as well. Our paper addresses this gap by taking a step back and suggesting a conceptual framework for studying international orders and their crises respectively. Discussing gaps in recent contributions to the field of the crisis of the LIO, we begin by providing a systematic conceptualization of international order by defining all political orders as composed of three elements: norms, institutions and rule. We then proceed by conceptualizing crises with regard to their effect on these three elements. We distinguish between two basic types of crises: Crises within an order, that affect only certain elements of an order or specific sub-orders and crises of an order in which all elements or the majority of suborders is affected. We delineate the attributes of these types and discuss observable implications. We then demonstrate the utility of this framework by drawing on different empirical cases to illustrate crises at work and how they affect the stability of order.
