In world politics, there are trends that offer most Americans grounds for optimism: for example, ISIS has suffered serious defeats on the battlefield. there are also trends of a different sort: for example, it’s been argued that the “liberal world order” is decaying. In a thoughtful essay, please discuss seemingly positive and seemingly negative trends. Please touch on matters of international law and human rights as well as violence and other forms of conflict. “Progress is possible,” our text says in its last paragraph—but how vast is the progress needed?