Show‑Up Diplomacy Masks Free‑Riding

The liberal international order traded durable enforcement for a cheap norm: mere membership or presence granted access (security, markets, rights), letting states under‑perform while still reaping benefits. That dynamic creates strategic fragility because the underwriter (the U.S.) absorbs costs until political limits force a reckoning. — If true, policymakers must rethink reliance on participation incentives and design enforcement or conditionality into alliances and trade regimes to avoid strategic drift and domestic backlash.