Dillon Stone Tatum is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Francis Marion University. His research interests are on the history, development, and politics of liberal internationalism, international political theory, and critical security studies.
Beate Jahnâs Liberal Internationalism is an exciting blend of analysis of the liberal tradition of political thought, while also providing an âimmanent critiqueâ of liberalismâs global contradictionsâboth historically, and in contemporary constellations. Jahnâs book represents, to me at least, the âsweet-spotâ between carefully considered analysis, concept-building, and ethical reflection.
This study provides an original conception of liberalism that accounts for its internal contradictions and explains the current crisis of liberal internationalism. Examining the disjuncture between liberal theory and practice, it offers a firmer grasp on the historical role of liberalism in world politics.
Having come of age at the End of History in the late 1990s, it seemed to me back then that the only big political questions left were international ones. Everything in domestic politics appeared to be settled. As I pursued this interest through my scholarly work as an academic, I came to understand how questions of international and domestic order were intertwined â and that one could not be understood without the other. As weâre now living through the end of the End of History, unsurprisingly weâre seeing tremendous strain on political systems at both the national and international level. These books will provide, I hope, some signposts as to what comes next.
Despite having been maligned for so long in the British academy, in this book Porter shows the continuing vitality of the intellectual tradition of classical realism for understanding power politics today. He gratifyingly sweeps away the dewy-eyed nostalgia for the so-called ârules-based orderâ that supposedly crumbled on Trumpâs election to the White House in 2016. In addition to usefully reminding us of all the hypocrisy bound up with liberal internationalism, Porter also forces us to reckon with the core question of all politics â how far power is needed to underpin political order. Although I demur from some of his conclusions, Porter scrapes the tablet clean, offering the possibility of a more forthright and meaningful debate.
In an age of demagogues, hostile great powers and trade wars, foreign policy traditionalists dream of restoring liberal international order. This order, they claim, ushered in seventy years of peace and prosperity and saw post-war America domesticate the world to its values.
The False Promise of Liberal Order exposes the flaws in this nostalgic vision. The world shaped by America came about as a result of coercion and, sometimes brutal, compromise. Liberal projects - to spread capitalist democracy - led inadvertently to illiberal results. To make peace, America made bargains with authoritarian forces. Even in the Pax Americana, the gentlestâŚ
Well before I trained as a scholar, I was an activist motivated by opposition to the Vietnam War and support for civil rights and social justice. Those commitments continued throughout my academic career and have now morphed into a resolve to write about recent threats to liberal order, democracy, and justice. The election results of 2016 â the triumph of âleaveâ in the Brexit vote and of Donald Trump in the Presidential election, forced me to rethink the history of things I have come to cherish â liberal order, democracy, and social and racial justice â how support for them has ebbed, and why they now require vigorous and informed defense.
Ikenberry is the leading scholar writing about the origins, the evolution, and the working of the liberal international order.
He sees deep connections between liberal internationalism, liberal democracy, and democratic capitalism.
Ikenberry charts the transformations that have occurred in the liberal order, from its successful creation after the Second World War to its consolidation and expansion after the end of the Cold War to the challenges it currently faces.
He is acutely aware of liberal orderâs faults and limitations, but insists that it remains the worldâs best hope.
A sweeping account of the rise and evolution of liberal internationalism in the modern era, selected as a Best Book of 2021 by Foreign Affairs
"A thoughtful and profound defence of liberal internationalism-both as a political philosophy and as a guide to future actions."-Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
"The crowning achievement of [Ikenberry's] decades-long work explaining and defending the liberal international order."-Michael Hirsch, Foreign Policy
For two hundred years, the grand project of liberal internationalism has been to build a world order that is open, loosely rules-based, and oriented toward progressive ideas. Today this project is in crisis, threatened from theâŚ
