When Donald Trump declared in one of his threatening statements that he could, if necessary, “bring Iran back to the Stone Age,” many interpreted the remark merely as a military threat directed at a specific country. Yet the deeper meaning of this statement lies not in its military message but in the political logic that underpins it. The central issue is not whether the United States has the capability to devastate another country; rather, it is what kind of view of the international order makes such a threat possible—or even appear normal. If one examines the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy in recent years, it becomes increasingly clear that the threat of “returning a country to the Stone Age” reflects a deeper transformation: the gradual erosion of the rules that have governed relations among states since the end of World War II. From this perspective, what is unfolding is not simply a threat against Iran but a challenge to the entire international system—a system that, if its rules collapse, could push the world back toward conditions in which raw power replaces law.

To understand the significance of this transformation, it is necessary to consider the role that international rules and institutions have played in the modern global order. After World War II, major powers reached the conclusion that unchecked rivalry without legal and institutional frameworks would inevitably drag the world back into cycles of devastating wars. The result of this historical experience was the creation of a network of international organizations, treaties, and norms designed to limit the use of force and establish mechanisms for resolving disputes among states. Within this framework, even great powers were compelled to provide some form of legal or institutional justification for their actions. For this reason, U.S. foreign policy in past decades—despite often facing strong criticism—generally attempted to frame its conduct within a legal or institutional narrative.

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In recent years, however—particularly during Trump’s presidency—this logic has eroded considerably. What has........

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