LIDO – Loyalties in a Divided Order

Europe’s responses to the US withdrawal from multilateralism

The US is increasingly turning away from the Liberal International Order it helped to build together with its European partners. Instead of inclusive multilateral institutions, the US now often promotes exclusive, informal, and transactional alternatives. Project LIDO starts out to examine how Europe navigates these crosscurrents.

The goals of Project LIDO are threefold:

1. To map how the EU and its member states respond to US disengagement from multilateral institutions.
2. To understand why a specific strategy prevails over others.
3. To assess the impact of these strategic choices on the transatlantic partnership, multilateral institutions, and the rules-based order they underpin.

To this end, Project LIDO adopts a comparative approach and studies European responses across multilateral institutions and over time. It thereby draws on interviews with representatives of affected multilateral institutions, the EU, and member state governments.

By uncovering Europe’s strategic options and the conditions of their success, Project LIDO will provide insights into which course is the most promising for Europe to navigate through turbulent waters and reach safe shores.

Project LIDO is funded by the EUI Project Grant for Early-stage Researchers (ESR) and the EUI Max Weber Programme.