Felipe VI expresses his concern about the challenges for democracy and the liberal order in the world

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Twenty-seven years after finishing his Master's in International Relations at Georgetown University, Felipe VI has returned to that academic center.

This time he has done it as a speaker at the celebration of the hundred years of the Master of Foreign Service (MSFS), precisely the program he attended.

At the celebratory dinner, which was held at the US Institute of Peace -an independent institution dedicated to the analysis of international relations- the King addressed the attendees a few brief words in which

It was not an institutional discourse in any way, but rather a reflection on how the international relations system faces serious

This situation has generated a more interconnected planet, but also more tense and in greater danger of fracture.

As the King said, "the degree of polarization that we see in the Western world is difficult to explain without understanding the social tensions that exist in many countries."

In turn, the monarch recalled,

, which means that the border "between the internal affairs of countries and global affairs is becoming thinner and thinner".

The consequence is that "defending the international liberal order is much more difficult if there are political disagreements within the world's liberal democracies."

Added to this element is technological disruption, which has a double aspect.

On the one hand, it is a key element of economic growth and improvement of social well-being, which also contributes to uniting the world.

But the development of technology has also generated problems, ranging from "the reduction of the public space for debate" to the disruption of the labor market, the proliferation of "toxic and false information", and economic imbalances within countries, a point on which the King had an impact on two occasions, and where he mentioned "the urgent need to

and make everyone do better".

That interdependence and the fragility of the international relations system have been exposed, according to the King, with Russia's "illegal and unjustified invasion" of Ukraine.

If there is any lesson that can be drawn from the conflict, Felipe VI said, it is that "our relations can be fractured very easily."

Even if some kind of settlement is reached to end the conflict, "relations between Russia and the rest of the world - and especially between Russia and the European Union and the United States - will be a fraction of what they were before," the King lamented. .

Before participating in the celebration of the anniversary of the MSFS, the King was at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he had a brief meeting with the Spaniards who work in the institution and had lunch with the managing director of the organization, the Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva. .

Felipe VI was at the Fund accompanied by the Vice President of the Government, Nadia Calviño, who also chairs the International Financial and Monetary Committee, a consultative body of the Fund made up of 24 countries and which, precisely, was the scene in April of a harsh diplomatic confrontation with Reason for invasion of Ukraine.

Before the lunch began, Georgieva referred to the King as "a voice of reason and positive messages not only for the people of Spain, but for everyone in Europe and in the world."

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