In the second one half the 20th century, the U.S. engaged within the such a lot bold and far-reaching liberal order development the area had but visible. This liberal overseas order has been essentially the most winning in heritage in delivering safeguard and prosperity to extra humans. yet within the final decade, the American-led order has been stricken. a few argue that the Bush management, with its warfare on terror, invasion of Iraq, and unilateral orientation, undermined this liberal order. Others argue that we're witnessing the top of the yankee period. Liberal Leviathan engages those debates.

G. John Ikenberry argues that the situation that besets the American-led order is a situation of authority. A political fight has been ignited over the distribution of roles, rights, and authority in the liberal overseas order. however the deeper common sense of liberal order is still alive and good. The forces that experience caused this crisis--the upward push of non-Western states similar to China, contested norms of sovereignty, and the deepening of financial and safety interdependence--have resulted from the profitable functioning and growth of the postwar liberal order, no longer its breakdown. The liberal foreign order has encountered crises some time past and advanced for that reason. it's going to achieve this again.

Ikenberry presents the main systematic assertion but concerning the thought and perform of the liberal foreign order, and a forceful message for policymakers, students, and basic readers approximately why the United States needs to renegotiate its courting with the remainder of the area and pursue a extra enlightened strategy--that of the liberal leviathan.