States Reassert Moral Missions

Modern illiberal and post‑liberal regimes increasingly present themselves not only as administrators of order but as active shapers of moral character, using laws, institutions and cultural policy to define and enforce a national vision of the good life. This is visible across contexts — from Orbán’s Hungary pushing out CEU to rhetoric in China, India and segments of American politics — and is presented as a conscious alternative to liberal restraint. — If states explicitly adopt moral missions, debates about rights, pluralism, soft power and civic institutions must shift to confront active state efforts to engineer citizens’ values.